Monarchs Football - the Right Thing to Do
There was a time I was against Old Dominion University having a football team. Part of it was simply me not being a college football fan (for reasons I've already outlined in this blog), but it was mostly because I didn't feel the student body deserved it.
ODU students were like that three-year-old who has all these toys strewn about the floor around him that he won't play with. Instead, he wants a big, shiny new toy.
The school has 16 NCAA-sanctioned athletic programs, and aside from the men's basketball team, the student body doesn't support them. Even with the basketball team, ODU students are fair-weather, only showing up when the team is successful. Nastionally-ranked field hockey and men's soccer teams are virtually ignored, as are vastly-improved women's soccer and consistently competitive wrestling. Baseball is nonexistant--even when Detroit Tigers star Justin Verlander was lighting up opposing CAA hitters.
Even the women's basketball team, which has won an astounding 15 straight conference titles, has seen a sharp decline in attendance in recent years.
Given all that, I didn't feel ODU deserved a football team. But, in light of Tuesday's press conference and a number of other factors, I'm slowly beginning to come around on the idea.
For the record, the idea of football at ODU is not an old one; several years ago, when I was a freshman and Dr. James Koch was president, the issue was raised...and promptly struck down. Koch forever opposed the school having a team, though I can't tell you for the life of me why (although the money it would've taken to start a program probably had something to do with it).
But since he left and Roseann Runte took over, things have changed. Not just on the football front, but on the university front.
-The school opened a new arena, the 8,600-seat Ted Constant Convocation Center. It resulted in a renewed interest in ODU basketball and has increased the number of on-campus activities.
-The school has also expanded its campus, including the University Village apartments and several shops beneath them. Two new dormitories are also being built in an effort to make ODU a more on-campus school. (as of right now, over 70 percent of the ODU student body commutes).
-Several of the university's athletic facilities are receiving facelifts, the product of cash coming in from team and conference success (thank you, George Mason's Final Four run).
All of that, along with increased student interest and a real commitment from President Runte and the Board of Visitors, makes this the right time to pursue football at ODU. With the Colonial Athletic Association adding football in 2007 (essentially merging the CAA with the Atlantic-10 football league, creating a Division I-AA powerhouse conference), the move seemed perfect.
And the school looks to be going about it the right way.
Toyota has already pledged its support as a corporate sponsor for ODU football, and PricewaterHouse Coopers has been brought in as the consulting firm. The university and the city of Norfolk are in talks for the delegation of land for football facilities, and the school seems to be dotting all the I's and crossing all the T's.
But what really sold ODU football to me was what the school announced this morning, the hiring of former coaches George Welsh and Dick Sheridan as advisors.
Everyone from Runte to athletic director Jim Jarrett raved this morning about how ODU was going to do this the right way, that they were bringing in football with the intent of being competitive and successful. Jarrett says the school will begin competing for CAA titles in 2011.
With the talent in the Hampton Roads area--which currently goes everywhere from James Madison to Norfolk State to William & Mary to Virginia Tech and Virginia--I'm not inclined to agrue with him.
It really seems like the school has the right idea. In Welsh, they bring in a guy with an extensive coaching pedigree and an intimate knowledge of the Hampton Roads area. The Navy has a huge presence in the area, and he spent many a time recruiting in the area when he was the coach at U.Va.
As for Sheridan, he brings in not only Div. I-AA experience, but the experience of starting up a new program. His years at Furman--not to mention the 1985 Div. I-AA national championship--and a smiliar position at Coastal Carolina when it started a I-AA program four years ago will prove valuable as ODU acclimates itself to one of the premier I-AA leagues in the country.
But beyond that, Jarrett has a plan. Hire a coach by December...maybe January at the latest. Kick off in the fall of 2009, begin competing for conference titles in 2011. More than anything, that shows me this isn't something the school just decided to do--it was something they thought through, set in motion and went about taking things one step at a time.
Beginning a football program at the college level is not easy--ODU admits as such. But I really like the approach they're taking, almost as much as I like the fact that no men's programs are going to get the axe in the interest of complying with Title IX.
Instead, ODU will add three women's programs: volleyball, softball, and crew. Volleyball and softball have a large profile in the CAA, and crew makes sense, given the university's success in sailing (not to mention, ODU is near a lot of water).
If things keep going the way they are, I see myself at Foreman Field in September of 2009, watching the Monarchs kick off for the first time in my life. It'll be an exciting day, one I once wished would never come.
Now, I can't wait.
ODU students were like that three-year-old who has all these toys strewn about the floor around him that he won't play with. Instead, he wants a big, shiny new toy.
The school has 16 NCAA-sanctioned athletic programs, and aside from the men's basketball team, the student body doesn't support them. Even with the basketball team, ODU students are fair-weather, only showing up when the team is successful. Nastionally-ranked field hockey and men's soccer teams are virtually ignored, as are vastly-improved women's soccer and consistently competitive wrestling. Baseball is nonexistant--even when Detroit Tigers star Justin Verlander was lighting up opposing CAA hitters.
Even the women's basketball team, which has won an astounding 15 straight conference titles, has seen a sharp decline in attendance in recent years.
Given all that, I didn't feel ODU deserved a football team. But, in light of Tuesday's press conference and a number of other factors, I'm slowly beginning to come around on the idea.
For the record, the idea of football at ODU is not an old one; several years ago, when I was a freshman and Dr. James Koch was president, the issue was raised...and promptly struck down. Koch forever opposed the school having a team, though I can't tell you for the life of me why (although the money it would've taken to start a program probably had something to do with it).
But since he left and Roseann Runte took over, things have changed. Not just on the football front, but on the university front.
-The school opened a new arena, the 8,600-seat Ted Constant Convocation Center. It resulted in a renewed interest in ODU basketball and has increased the number of on-campus activities.
-The school has also expanded its campus, including the University Village apartments and several shops beneath them. Two new dormitories are also being built in an effort to make ODU a more on-campus school. (as of right now, over 70 percent of the ODU student body commutes).
-Several of the university's athletic facilities are receiving facelifts, the product of cash coming in from team and conference success (thank you, George Mason's Final Four run).
All of that, along with increased student interest and a real commitment from President Runte and the Board of Visitors, makes this the right time to pursue football at ODU. With the Colonial Athletic Association adding football in 2007 (essentially merging the CAA with the Atlantic-10 football league, creating a Division I-AA powerhouse conference), the move seemed perfect.
And the school looks to be going about it the right way.
Toyota has already pledged its support as a corporate sponsor for ODU football, and PricewaterHouse Coopers has been brought in as the consulting firm. The university and the city of Norfolk are in talks for the delegation of land for football facilities, and the school seems to be dotting all the I's and crossing all the T's.
But what really sold ODU football to me was what the school announced this morning, the hiring of former coaches George Welsh and Dick Sheridan as advisors.
Everyone from Runte to athletic director Jim Jarrett raved this morning about how ODU was going to do this the right way, that they were bringing in football with the intent of being competitive and successful. Jarrett says the school will begin competing for CAA titles in 2011.
With the talent in the Hampton Roads area--which currently goes everywhere from James Madison to Norfolk State to William & Mary to Virginia Tech and Virginia--I'm not inclined to agrue with him.
It really seems like the school has the right idea. In Welsh, they bring in a guy with an extensive coaching pedigree and an intimate knowledge of the Hampton Roads area. The Navy has a huge presence in the area, and he spent many a time recruiting in the area when he was the coach at U.Va.
As for Sheridan, he brings in not only Div. I-AA experience, but the experience of starting up a new program. His years at Furman--not to mention the 1985 Div. I-AA national championship--and a smiliar position at Coastal Carolina when it started a I-AA program four years ago will prove valuable as ODU acclimates itself to one of the premier I-AA leagues in the country.
But beyond that, Jarrett has a plan. Hire a coach by December...maybe January at the latest. Kick off in the fall of 2009, begin competing for conference titles in 2011. More than anything, that shows me this isn't something the school just decided to do--it was something they thought through, set in motion and went about taking things one step at a time.
Beginning a football program at the college level is not easy--ODU admits as such. But I really like the approach they're taking, almost as much as I like the fact that no men's programs are going to get the axe in the interest of complying with Title IX.
Instead, ODU will add three women's programs: volleyball, softball, and crew. Volleyball and softball have a large profile in the CAA, and crew makes sense, given the university's success in sailing (not to mention, ODU is near a lot of water).
If things keep going the way they are, I see myself at Foreman Field in September of 2009, watching the Monarchs kick off for the first time in my life. It'll be an exciting day, one I once wished would never come.
Now, I can't wait.
posted by Jeff Cunningham at 7:42 PM
1 Comments:
Yes, Football may be a good thing in the long run for ODU. However, they are actually cutting academics due to the governors budget cuts instead of delaying all this football hoopla or facelifting you talk about. Talk about having your priorities mixed up. They'll end up with a bright shiny campus and a football team to ra-ra about and the soul of a crack whore when it's done.
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