oldsport
June 1st, 2006, 07:35 AM
Although Old Dominion University (ODU) is not scheduled to field a IAA football team until 2009, excitement is in the air around Norfolk. I have been to the MEACFans site and there seems to be alot of consternation (which sounds like down right jealousy from NSU fans) about the prospects of ODU's entry into IAA football. I am not sure what the problem is. Personally, I am glad ODU will restart its football program. Best of luck to ODU and welcome to IAA Football. Hopefully, ODU fans will find their way to this site once their program starts.:hurray: :hurray:
ODU football hype begins
Published June 1 2006
NORFOLK -- Old Dominion staged a nice little gathering Wednesday morning at Foreman Field in honor of Katie Couric's "Today" show farewell.
A slew of ODU honchos attended. There were mayors, city councilmen, Board of Visitor types, boosters. CAA commissioner Tom Yeager showed, along with assistant commish Ron Bertovich. Heck, the Phoebus High marching band played.
They said it was for ODU football, but that couldn't be right. They wouldn't invite a few hundred people to a tailgate party for a program that isn't likely to make a nickel and won't play its first game for another three years, would they?
Sure they would.
"I'm a believer," said former Norfolk Catholic and VMI defensive back Paul Fraim, whose current job is mayor of Norfolk. "I participated in college athletics. I was around athletics at three Virginia colleges and I know what it can mean to a campus. I know what it can mean to the student body. It will have a very positive impact on everything."
Wednesday's pep rally was simply the latest reminder that yes, by God, ODU is going to field a football program.
Previous announcements that the school was moving forward with plans for football were usually made in conference rooms at Board of Visitors meetings, where board member Sonny "Svengali" Stallings used his telepathic powers to induce unanimous "yes" votes.
Wednesday's get-together was open-air, Tailgating 101, complete with grills and burgers and tents and picnic tables and a big, snazzy RV behind one end zone to help simulate the experience.
Absent coaches, players and games, we had speechifying and awkward football analogies, like passes forced into double coverage (See how easy it is?).
Anyway, count on more reminders in the leadup to the first game in the fall of 2009. Without a product, good or bad, we have to settle for hype and promises and statements that sound a lot like: We're still having football.
"I think it's a big deal for the university," Yeager said. "There's nothing like football and home football weekends to pull people to a campus."
Yeager drove up in a bright yellow Hummer H2. Not his regular chariot, he assured. He borrowed it for the occasion.
Yeager's Hummer was one of the traditional models with an open bed in the back, to transport a grill, a cooler, a hot tub, a side of beef, whatever, for tailgating purposes.
"Rightly or wrongly - and some faculty will go chaotic to hear this - but football does help define a university," Yeager said. "They're not playing Michigan, but it adds to the quality of life around here."
College football's impact on "quality of life" is debatable. Would VCU or UNC Wilmington or Temple be better off with football? Hard to say.
Without dispute is the notion that football at ODU comes about because of a fortuitous confluence of circumstances.
The school is in the midst of a remarkable makeover, from commuter to campus-oriented. The student body is growing - it's expected to reach 28,000 in the next couple of years.
A larger student body and alumni base mean more money, which provides funding mechanisms not only for football, but for the women's sports required to keep ODU in compliance with the gender-equity cops.
Yeager's and the CAA's hostile takeover of Atlantic 10 football two years hence gives ODU football built-in conference affiliation and natural scheduling opportunities that did not exist before.
Factor in the high school talent pool in Hampton Roads, which college programs have mined for years, and ODU doesn't have to look far to fill a roster.
But again, we're getting ahead of ourselves. There is the matter of raising and properly allocating millions of dollars. ODU must hire not only enough, but competent bodies for what will be the most significant transformation in its athletic history.
Until Sept. 2009, enjoy the World's Longest Tailgate Party.
Dave Fairbank can be reached at 247-4637 or by e-mail at [email protected] «
http://www.dailypress.com/sports/columnists/dp-38144cm0jun01,0,6495001.column?coll=dp-sports-columnists
ODU football hype begins
Published June 1 2006
NORFOLK -- Old Dominion staged a nice little gathering Wednesday morning at Foreman Field in honor of Katie Couric's "Today" show farewell.
A slew of ODU honchos attended. There were mayors, city councilmen, Board of Visitor types, boosters. CAA commissioner Tom Yeager showed, along with assistant commish Ron Bertovich. Heck, the Phoebus High marching band played.
They said it was for ODU football, but that couldn't be right. They wouldn't invite a few hundred people to a tailgate party for a program that isn't likely to make a nickel and won't play its first game for another three years, would they?
Sure they would.
"I'm a believer," said former Norfolk Catholic and VMI defensive back Paul Fraim, whose current job is mayor of Norfolk. "I participated in college athletics. I was around athletics at three Virginia colleges and I know what it can mean to a campus. I know what it can mean to the student body. It will have a very positive impact on everything."
Wednesday's pep rally was simply the latest reminder that yes, by God, ODU is going to field a football program.
Previous announcements that the school was moving forward with plans for football were usually made in conference rooms at Board of Visitors meetings, where board member Sonny "Svengali" Stallings used his telepathic powers to induce unanimous "yes" votes.
Wednesday's get-together was open-air, Tailgating 101, complete with grills and burgers and tents and picnic tables and a big, snazzy RV behind one end zone to help simulate the experience.
Absent coaches, players and games, we had speechifying and awkward football analogies, like passes forced into double coverage (See how easy it is?).
Anyway, count on more reminders in the leadup to the first game in the fall of 2009. Without a product, good or bad, we have to settle for hype and promises and statements that sound a lot like: We're still having football.
"I think it's a big deal for the university," Yeager said. "There's nothing like football and home football weekends to pull people to a campus."
Yeager drove up in a bright yellow Hummer H2. Not his regular chariot, he assured. He borrowed it for the occasion.
Yeager's Hummer was one of the traditional models with an open bed in the back, to transport a grill, a cooler, a hot tub, a side of beef, whatever, for tailgating purposes.
"Rightly or wrongly - and some faculty will go chaotic to hear this - but football does help define a university," Yeager said. "They're not playing Michigan, but it adds to the quality of life around here."
College football's impact on "quality of life" is debatable. Would VCU or UNC Wilmington or Temple be better off with football? Hard to say.
Without dispute is the notion that football at ODU comes about because of a fortuitous confluence of circumstances.
The school is in the midst of a remarkable makeover, from commuter to campus-oriented. The student body is growing - it's expected to reach 28,000 in the next couple of years.
A larger student body and alumni base mean more money, which provides funding mechanisms not only for football, but for the women's sports required to keep ODU in compliance with the gender-equity cops.
Yeager's and the CAA's hostile takeover of Atlantic 10 football two years hence gives ODU football built-in conference affiliation and natural scheduling opportunities that did not exist before.
Factor in the high school talent pool in Hampton Roads, which college programs have mined for years, and ODU doesn't have to look far to fill a roster.
But again, we're getting ahead of ourselves. There is the matter of raising and properly allocating millions of dollars. ODU must hire not only enough, but competent bodies for what will be the most significant transformation in its athletic history.
Until Sept. 2009, enjoy the World's Longest Tailgate Party.
Dave Fairbank can be reached at 247-4637 or by e-mail at [email protected] «
http://www.dailypress.com/sports/columnists/dp-38144cm0jun01,0,6495001.column?coll=dp-sports-columnists