The monarch who made ODU athletics to retire in June

NORFOLK

Down the hall, in the practice gym, a basketball camp was in full swing. Over at the soccer stadium, more campers were kicking balls around. Across the parking lot, at the new tennis center, people with rackets slung over their shoulders were heading in to play.

Even on a hazy summer day, Old Dominion University was a hive of athletic activity Wednesday. The man largely responsible for much of it sat in his office, talking to a succession of reporters and fielding well wishes from callers near and far.

"The word is out," Jim Jarrett said.

It went out just after noon: Jarrett, ODU's athletic director since 1970, is stepping down next June.

Not a surprise, perhaps, for someone who will turn 71 next month, though for many on campus, imagining the school without him will take some doing.

"It would be hard to think of Old Dominion athletics and not think of Jim Jarrett. They are synonymous," said ODU President John Broderick.

Jarrett didn't start sports at ODU, not even close, but he did bring them into the modern era. He blazed trails for female athletes, oversaw an explosive growth in facilities and earned a reputation for running a clean and fiscally sound program.

"Old Dominion, it's his baby," said men's basketball coach Blaine Taylor. "He built it. You look at that athletic department, and it's got his stamp on it."

When he arrived as an associate professor of health and physical education in 1967, ODU's facilities consisted of an aging stadium, Foreman Field, the track that circled it and a sandlot field next to Larchmont Elementary School. His first budget as athletic director in 1970 was about $120,000.

Today, he oversees a budget that will jump to nearly $25 million with the addition of football, which is being resurrected after 68 years. Foreman Field is undergoing an overhaul, the Ted Constant Center has become a model for mid sized basketball arenas and the Monarchs field a combined 16 men's and women's sports teams.

It was all unimaginable in 1970, but for some, so was the idea that women should receive athletic scholarships. Jarrett initiated them in 1974, becoming the first in Virginia to do so. Within five years, ODU was a national power in women's basketball.

"I don't think it's justice to Jim to say that he just did great things at Old Dominion," said Nancy Lieberman, the pioneering women's basketball player who played for the Monarchs from 1976-80. "He changed the landscape of women's athletics."

Jarrett had never heard of ODU when he met Athletic Director Bud Metheny at a conference in 1967. Jarrett had just finished his doctoral studies at Florida State. Metheny wanted to hire him, and he made Jarrett promise to come to Norfolk for an interview.

But when Metheny called back, Jarrett was considering offers from other schools. Jarrett asked Metheny if he still wanted him to come.

"He said, 'You promised me,' " Jarrett recalled.

He came to a school that competed in NCAA Division II, a small-college division. He took over for Metheny three years after arriving. The Monarchs won their first national title in 1975, in men's basketball. ODU moved to Division I the following year.

Three years later, the Lady Monarchs basketball team won the school's first Division I title. It validated something Jarrett had believed since working as a tennis pro in his home state of Illinois - that women should have equal opportunities to play sports and benefit from the lessons they can teach.

"There were people back then that said girls shouldn't play sports, and I didn't see that at all," he said.

Other athletic directors told him he was creating problems for them, threatening to break their budgets. In time, though, they followed suit.

ODU established itself as a national power in women's basketball, field hockey and men's and women's sailing. Jarrett's philosophy of "selective excellence" - fielding teams in sports in which the Monarchs could be nationally competitive - also produced strong men's basketball teams and an overall program that has had the highest winning percentage among state Division I schools 12 times since 1980.

"He provided you an opportunity to excel, and not just in monetary ways," said field hockey coach Beth Anders, whose teams have won nine national titles. "But through support and conversation. He would always ask, 'What do you need?' "

Jarrett's four-decade tenure makes him a rarity among college ADs, who typically serve far shorter terms and then move on.

"I don't know that the world record is for length, but that's got to be close," said Tom Yeager, commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Association.

Jarrett didn't plan it that way, but says he's enjoyed his job and living in Hampton Roads, so he never felt the need to leave. He began thinking about retirement at age 65 but said he had some things he wanted to see through to completion. The start of football, which kicks off Sept. 5, is one of them.

"I just thought it was a good time," he said. "The program is going well, facilities have developed the way we wanted them to. Things are going good."

Jarrett said he's proudest of his department's reputation for integrity and its compliance with NCAA regulations. And of fielding winning teams while maintaining those standards.

He deflects most of the credit for starting football to former ODU President Roseann Runte, who rallied support among students and alumni.

He has a year to plan his retirement. Meanwhile, there is still much to be done. Building a facility for the women's crew team, for one.

And finding the money to start women's softball and volleyball, additions that would help ODU remain in compliance with gender equity regulations.

There's also a year to plan an event that Lieberman has in mind.

"Old Dominion and the Tidewater area in particular," she said, "should have a parade for that man."

Ed Miller, (757) 446-2372, ed.miller@pilotonline.com