Football at ODU
Football at Old Dominion University (ODU) is currently played on Kornblau Field at S.B. Ballard Stadium.
Contents
History
Football was played at the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary shortly after it began in the fall of 1930. The athletic team was nicknamed “The Braves” and played games against other junior colleges and high schools in the area. The team was coached by Tommy Scott, the Norfolk Division’s first Athletic Director who also coached baseball, basketball, and track. The Braves lost their very first game to Suffolk High School by the score of 7-0.
Due to limited funding and the steady decline in attendance, football at the Norfolk Division ceased in 1941. Over the next 64 years, there were numerous attempts to bring football back to ODU to no avail. In 2005, President Roseann Runte began a successful campaign to bring football back to ODU, and Bobby Wilder, associate head coach at the University of Maine, was hired as the head coach in 2007. The first game of the revitalized program took place against Chowan University on September 5, 2009.
In 2012, it was announced that ODU would join Conference USA effective July 1, 2013. In December 2016, the ODU football team defeated Eastern Michigan University to win the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl, the team’s first bowl win. Two years later, on September 22, 2018, against considerable odds, ODU beat Virginia Tech 49-35 at Foreman Field for the biggest upset in ODU history. In December 2019, Ricky Rahne, offensive coordinator at Penn State University, was selected as the new head coach after the resignation of Bobby Wilder following a 1-11 season. the worst losing season since 1940.
In October 2021, it was announced that ODU would rejoin the Sun Belt Conference in 2022. The Monarchs were previously part of the Sun Belt Conference in the 1980s.
Football Coaches
Thomas L. “Tommy” Scott (1930-1941)
Thomas L. “Tommy” Scott, a former football standout at Virginia Military Institute, served as the athletic director of the Norfolk Division from 1930 to 1941 in addition to coaching the football, basketball, baseball, and track teams. In Scott’s first six years, the basketball, baseball, and football teams were a combined 197-60-2, including a 9-1 record for the 1932 football season.
Bobby Wilder (2007-2019)
In 2007, President Roseann Runte selected Bobby Wilder, Associate Head Coach at the University of Maine, as the second head coach in ODU’s history. Throughout his tenure as head coach, the Monarchs had a record of 77-56, including a win in the 2016 Bahamas Bowl.
Ricky Rahne (2019-present)
Ricky Rahne, Offensive Coordinator at Penn State University, became the third head coach in ODU’s history after the resignation of Bobby Wilder in December 2019. In December 2021, Rahne’s inaugural season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team posted a 6-6 record and earned an invitation to their second bowl game, the Myrtle Beach Bowl, which they lost 30-17 to Tulsa. In 2023, after a 6-6 regular season record, the Monarchs went to their second bowl game in three years but lost in the Famous Toastery Bowl, 38-35, to Western Kentucky.
Resources
- You can find more information about the history of football at Old Dominion University by visiting the digital exhibit “ODU Football: 1930 and Beyond“.
- Old Dominion University Athletics Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Patricia W. and J. Douglas Perry Library, Old Dominion University Libraries, Norfolk, VA 23529.
- Old Dominion University Photographic and Multimedia Collection, Special Collections and University Archives, Patricia W. and J. Douglas Perry Library, Old Dominion University Libraries, Norfolk, VA 23529.
- Articles detailing the history of football at ODU can be found in the Mace & Crown, the student newspaper, available in the Special Collections and University Archives department.