Wilder signed through 2014

   Raise or no raise -- and believe me, there's a raise involved -- Bobby Wilder's contract extension through 2014 is good for Old Dominion.

   In the dog-eat-dog world of college football, the Monarchs just put themselves in the running for "Best in Show." And yes, I watched the Westminster Kennel Club's annual blue-blood gathering last night on TV.

   Still, there is a parallel to be drawn. By signing Wilder through 2014, the school showed its "papers" so to speak. They have a coach contracted through 2014 and there's an elimination of negative recruiting when that happens.

   Negative recruiting happens, and you better believe it happened where Virginia was involved the last couple of years. When Al Groh didn't get a contract extension, competitors for players Virginia was recruiting could point to instability within the Charlottesville-based program.

   That threat has been eliminated at ODU.

   Wilder said he was asked "by about a half-dozen parents" this past fall about his contract situation. The question almost always came while he was making an official home recruiting visit.

   "I think the parents are coached up by their kids' high-school coaches to ask those kinds of questions," Wilder said. "And it's almost always asked as, 'Coach, what's your contract situation?' "

   Wilder says he tries to talk around that point of emphasis regardless.

   "When I'm talking with the recruit, I ask them to be comfortable with the school, because what happens when they come in to play football and have a career-ending injury?" Wilder said.

   Wilder's message, in a nutshell: Like the school first, like the football the school plays second, like the coach third.

   Still, if asked Wilder can now state "signed through 2014."

   And believe it or not, that will put some recruits at ease.

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