College Football Preview: ODU team is ready to roar

NORFOLK

About 6:06 Saturday evening, a giant, industrial-strength vacuum, seemingly hidden somewhere within the confines of Foreman Field, will suck out all the air from the place. And if you listen carefully, you may hear the thumping of coach Bobby Wilder’s heart as it tries to leap from his chest.

In that regard, Old Dominion ’s football coach won’t be so different from many others holding a vested interest in the nascent football program.

Some will claim this has been 69 years in the making, the rebirth of a football program that died an untimely death in 1940, when the school on Hampton Boulevard was the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary.

Others will reflect on ODU’s aborted attempt at restoring football in the mid-1980s – many of them telling anybody who’ll listen how they put down their deposit for tickets then.

This time, it’s for real, and with almost three years of sometimes-crazed anticipation serving as an adrenaline pump, the moment will arrive with the swift kick of an oblong-shaped ball. The buildup will have reached its pinnacle about the same instant the football meets the top of its own arc on the kickoff.

When it lands, everybody can exhale.

Football will have arrived at ODU.

Then what?

Where will this program head when the downs count and the hitting is for real?

For the moment, it’s headed for membership in the Colonial Athletic Association – the toughest league in the Football Championship Subdivision . The Monarchs first have two years playing as an independent, hand-picking who they’ll play and when. Then, they dive into a league where those who can compete in the conference can compete with any FCS team in the nation.

Last year, Richmond finished third in the CAA’s six-team South Division, then marched through the playoffs to a national championship. In the past six years, a CAA team has made the national title game five times, winning three.

Wilder hopes to compete for CAA titles after “cycling a class through” – in other words, in five years’ time.

Five years?

“It’ll be hard for this entire coaching staff because one of the prerequisites to being on this staff is I wanted competitors,” Wilder said. “They don’t like to lose at recruiting; they don’t like to lose drills at practice, and they certainly don’t like to lose games.

“We want to go 11-0, but it might not work out that way.”

Wilder said the length of his ODU contract – six years – was by design.

“We put it at six years because we needed a year to recruit and then five years to cycle a class through,” he said. “And honestly, that’s what I think it’s going to take.”

Michael Kleppe, a 1993 ODU graduate who lives in Virginia Beach, maintains he has the patience to weather that growth period.

“My expectations are that we put forth a great effort and do everything first class,” he said. “We didn’t rush into this to this point. Let’s not rush it now.

“We’ll know where we stand after a couple of years in the CAA. Until then, it’s all part of the build-up process. ”

In other corners of Monarch Nation, the patience level might not be so high, the time frame not quite so generous. In a microwave society , some fans – fan is short for fanatic – will expect success much sooner. And they might think after five years, the Monarchs should be ready to take on anyone.

Those folks could be in for a rude awakening – a reality check of sorts – particularly this fall. These aren’t the USC Trojans we’re talking about.

Far from it, in fact. Jeff Sagarin’s computer rankings of all 245 football teams – both bowl subdivision and championship subdivision – were released two weeks ago. The Trojans were No. 1, while ODU was No. 244 – right behind Savannah State, right ahead of Campbell University, which started football last season and posted its only victory of 2008 against a Division III team.

ODU might lay an egg, as Florida International did. The Golden Panthers, who started playing football in 2003, jumped into the FBS ranks prematurely in 2005 and have wallowed. Loaded with expectations that were too high, they have yet to post a winning season.

Or maybe the Monarchs will track Coastal Carolina’s path. The Chanticleers won from the start, going 6-5 their first season, 10-1 their second, and making the FCS playoffs by their fifth year.

David Bennett, Coastal Carolina’s head coach from the ground up, counseled Wilder early on about the ins and outs of building a team from scratch. He hopes the fan base understands what is most important in the early going.

As a start-up program, ODU’s biggest challenge is “to compete for a conference championship in the Colonial Athletic Association when they become a full-fledged member,” Bennett said, “because it is one of the toughest conferences in America.”

There’s no telling what will happen, but Wilder thinks the fan base is educated enough to recognize there has to be a growth process, that building a full-service football program takes time.

He’s certainly hoping they recognize it.

“I’ve made over 300 speaking engagements since being named head coach, and unrealistic expectations never came into the conversations,” Wilder said. “I think the fans know to be patient … but I do want them to have high expectations.”

Birthing a Division I football program is normally a painful process, even when everything goes to plan. And so far it has.

The Monarchs have essentially sold out their initial seven-game home campaign at a 73-year-old stadium transformed by a $24.8 million face-lift that would make Joan Rivers proud .

Suite sales went so well the school had to alter original plans for 14 and instead build 26. ODU constructed a $17.1 million practice facility at the back end of campus on Powhatan Avenue. The athletic fund-raising arm, the Big Blue Club, is setting records for donations even in a downward-spinning economy.

And yet, the Monarchs’ roster is splattered with freshmen, walk-ons and junior college transfers. Of the 85 roster players , 60 are either true freshmen or redshirt freshmen, making them the youngest FCS team in the country.

Monarchs fans might want to reach for the stars, but Wilder hopes they do so while keeping their feet firmly planted in reality.

One national Internet numbers jockey – Keeper’s College Football Ratings – projects ODU going 2-9. If that happens, defensive line coach Dealton Cotton might pull what hair he has out of his head.

At a practice in the second week of preseason, Cotton was so irritated with his unit’s momentary lapse during a mini-scrimmage – none of them pursued the ball after it was passed downfield – he made his defensive linemen drop and do 10 push-ups, even as the offense lined up for the next play.

Wilder was left biting his whistle to keep from laughing.

“I loved it,” Wilder said. “He was mad and ready to punish the unit to make a point.”

Forget winning two years from now; Cotton expects to win two days from now.

Still, winning out of the box is rare. Of the five schools to start Division I programs over the past 12 years, Coastal Carolina was the only one to post a winning record.

And yet, there is reason for optimism at ODU.

For one, the school scheduled smartly, putting no overwhelming opponents on the docket. The Monarchs begin with two Division II schools – Chowan and Virginia Union – and will play seven games at home.

There are no CAA opponents on the schedule, either. The challenge of a slate of CAA games can wait for another two years (though ODU will host William and Mary next season). For now, the Monarchs aren’t ready for that level of competition.

They say, however, they’re ready to play come Saturday, something it seemed would never happen when all of this began three years ago.

Rich Radford, (757) 446-2463, rich.radford@pilotonline.com