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

(02-01-2021 09:26 AM)FearTheLion Wrote:  

(01-31-2021 10:48 PM)Monarchblue Wrote:  We are so far from the AAC right now that it is not even worth consideration. There has to be another step between where we are and the ultimate goal of getting to the AAC. What that next step should be is what our admin needs to figure out asap.

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I know what that next step is. But it's a tough pill for some. When you are new to the division, the only way to continue getting invitations upward (and yes, CUSA was a big move) is to win and show up at the top of the table many times. Building a brand that resonates upward is hard and rarely gets done in the first 6 years playing in the division.

I think we agree on that, but it seems we disagree on the extent to which CUSA is sucking all of the life out of our athletic programs. I just don't think we can get there from where we are. CUSA has sucked all of the enthusiasm out of ODU Athletics (among other things) and it is an extremely tough sell for recruiting, at least in basketball. There are a couple schools on the basketball side and a couple/few on the football side that are more committed than us financially, and overcoming those disparities also makes it hard for us to rise to the top in either sport when we are trying to be competitive financially in both.

I may be wrong, but I think basketball has the most potential to drive us to a better conference and more national notoriety, and as such, should be the focus for the immediate future. Building the necessary brand and history as a startup football program is a long process, but the foundation is already there for our basketball program. I think our AD, donors, and some fans are obsessed with making ODU Football a thing overnight, and I just don't think that is an approach that is going to yield a desirable result. I could be wrong. I am definitely biased toward basketball, but if I look at the next 10 years with the goal of significantly building the ODU Athletics brand, I think basketball can get us there. I think it would take significantly longer, and significantly more money for football to get us there.