The unofficial online home for fans of the Old Dominion University Monarchs. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

From my perspective, Runte was awesome. But I know some people on the inside, and in Richmond, didnt like her much. I suspect it had to do with her wanting to see ODU rise in national prominence and "not knowing her place". She had higher aspirations for the school than the snooty folks in Richmond wanted ODU to attain. She then tried to play by the same shady rules every other school does and got burned by it when she collaborated with that politician from the peninsula to get more funding and trading him a job for it. That woman surely did wonders for school pride, campus life and infrastructure. I think she actually believed ODU could become an eastern VT of sorts. I sort of look at it like this: Koch got ODUs academics respectable, Runte got ODUs campus and student body respectable while maintaining the work Koch did, and Broderick focused on infrastructure and diversity while repairing some of the relationships in Richmond Runte apparently soured. What ODU severely needs is some actual signature undergraduate programs that rank at a national level. A couple of highly ranked national programs to tout would raise "all the boats". Im thinking Education, Oceanography, engineering, physical therapy or business would be great places to invest in and make some noise.