- May 29th, 2006, 3:34 pm
#16707
Here is the story from the Tidewater fishwrap previewing Wednesday's formal announcement:
ODU president ready to get party started on footballhttp://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/st ... &ran=79411
By JIM DUCIBELLA, The Virginian-Pilot
© May 28, 2006
NORFOLK - Roseann Runte's appearance before city and university leaders on Wednesday won't be much different from the dozens of others she has made since becoming president of Old Dominion University - except for the cold beer, hot dogs and acrid smell of smoldering charcoal.
She will stand inside 20,000-seat Foreman Field - for years the most visible evidence of the gaping void in the university's athletic program - and tell hundreds of guests at her tailgate party that football is officially returning to ODU in 2009.
Runte's announcement isn't news, given that ODU officials have been talking football for more than a year. But it's an affirmation that the university has scaled major hurdles, achieved significant milestones and overcome key stumbling blocks.
"It's a time for excitement and celebration," said Robert L. Fenning, vice president for Administration and Finance.
ODU last sponsored intercollegiate football in 1940. There were two attempts to revive the sport from 1985-89, but fund-raising campaigns and a season-ticket push fell short .
Last summer, however, ODU's Board of Visitors voted 14-0 to approve football if three criteria were met. One was having an outside consultant verify that Hampton Roads would support it .
The second was a deal with Norfolk to acquire land for football practice facilities and venues for women's crew, softball and volleyball - which ODU will add to remain in compliance with Title IX.
The third was $8 million in pledges for an endowment that would help finance the team.
The first two prerequisites have been met. The June deadline to collect $8 million was scrapped after the consultant's report indicated that ODU probably could not raise the money through a few large donations , but would have to rely on smaller donations from a larger circle of supporters.
"That changed the timeline," said Alonzo Brandon, vice president for Development and Alumni Relations. "We had to incorporate more steps in the process. When going after smaller donors, they want to know more information, like what kind of benefits are they getting, where's the parking going to take place, things like that. It takes longer."
Brandon said he has nearly $6 million in pledges and plans to begin a grass-roots fund-raising campaign this summer. He "feels strongly" that he will raise more than $8 million before the team takes the field in 2009.
Brandon and athletic director Jim Jarrett have discussed the sale of naming rights on Foreman Field with some prospects. One company wants to pursue future talks, but Brandon said there is no timetable on consummating a deal .
Behind the scenes, Fenning and Jarrett have set flexible timetables for other aspects of the most monumental expansion of sports in university history.
The highlights:
Personnel: Jarrett said he has narrowed the candidates to oversee the implementation of football to a few and hopes to make a hire by this fall. The new assistant will be " someone who has retired or is about to retire who can come in for a couple of years and give us help and support."
Jarrett wants the new assistant to be familiar with building a football program and in facility development and fund-raising.
"It's going to be someone with an understanding of a total program," Jarrett said.
In addition, Jarrett estimates phasing in as many as 33 support people over the next three years to handle football and the Title IX equity sports. They will work in ticketing, marketing, sports information, athletic training and other administrative areas.
"We need marketing and ticket-sales people now," he said.
Coaches and players: Jarrett's ideal head coach will be working in the profession during the 2007 season. He does not envision hiring him until late 2007 or early 2008. The new coach will have six full-time assistants and one part-timer. One or more assistants will be hired by mid-2008 to begin recruiting.
The first recruiting class will enroll in the fall of 2008 and be mostly freshmen and junior-college transfers. All will be redshirted in 2008, which under NCAA guidelines would enable them to practice under the new coaches and not lose a year of eligibility .
The process would be repeated the following year, giving the staff players in all four classes. The third year, coaches would concentrate on bringing in a full freshma n class.
Competition: How to ease the Monarchs into the Colonial Athletic Association, which begins operation as a football conference in 2007, has been a topic of conversation between Jarrett and commissioner Tom Yeager. For the first season and possibly a second, ODU will play a combination of conference foes and lower-level opponents. It's likely the Monarchs wouldn't play enough CAA schools to qualify for a conference title until 2011.
Facilities: ODU officials are adamant that their other sports will not suffer because of football. They point to a slew of projects .
At the athletic administration building, an 8,000-square-foot strength-training facility is being built for existing teams to use. The old weight room will be torn down so the sports medicine department can triple in size. An academic-support facility is being added in the back, as is a wrestling facility, all scheduled for completion in early 2007.
The new soccer complex is under construction and a practice field is to be added. It won't be long before the fieldhouse is torn down to make way for a student-recreation center.
"We're not starting football and saying to the rest of our programs: 'We'll get back to you in 10 years,' " Fenning said.
Across Powhatan Avenue, where ODU acquired land from the city , there are plans for a field hockey/lacrosse stadium, two football practice fields and a softball facility. However, the crown jewel of the complex will be a minimum 50,000-square foot building that will include coaches offices for football, softball, field hockey and lacrosse, plus locker rooms, strength training and other services for each of those sports.
The majority of these projects will be completed before work starts on Foreman Field.
A year ago, a local architect conducted preliminary work on what needed to be done to upgrade the 70-year-old former WPA project. In June or July, the St. Louis-based firm of Hastings and Chivetta will come in to expand on the original analysis. In the fall, ODU will submit a budget request to the state, even though most of the work will be paid for through private fund-raising and bonds .
In the South end zone area, ODU will build a game-day locker complex and parking, plus additional seating and up to 11 luxury suites. Officials are planning to remove the bleachers at midfield for chair-back seats reserved for Big Blue Club donors.
A new press box, scoreboard, concession areas and entry plaza are planned, none of which is expected to be ready until 2008.
At the same time, the city is about to begin expansion of 43rd Street into a four-lane roadway running past the soccer and baseball stadiums and into the complex across Powhatan. That and other road improvements will ease access into what ultimately will be 7,000 parking spaces at or near Foreman Field.
- By LU Armchair coach