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ODU last season ranked fourth among FCS programs in average home attendance (19,782), and more than 14,000 season-tickets have been purchased for this season. The waiting list for those who want season tickets has 1,710 names.

"The school has done such a tremendous job of marketing the program. The fans have been a part of it," Wilder said. "That has helped us in more ways than anything else, from the standpoint of recruiting.

"It's imperative we get the top players in Virginia down for a game so they can see that. So if those kids aren't going to Virginia or Virginia Tech, then we're in the hunt, so to speak, with the JMUs and William and Marys and Richmonds in our state."

Thirty-five of the 78 players on the Monarchs' preseason roster are from the Tidewater area, a hotbed for high school football.

Wilder, so far, has done the job he was hired to do. He energized the fan base, sold the program to talented players in ODU's back yard, and put a winning product on the field.

But can they beat Towson ?

Aho Old Guy wrote:But can they beat Towson ?

Now that's the big question isn't it.

I'm sure ODU's presence has not helped JMU and UR, W&M to a lesser extent. How they perform the next half-dozen years will dictate if they are at or above those teams level or if they're a Towson....

A strong ODU is good for the CAA so as long as my Dukes put a game on the field I'm all for all other CAA teams building solid programs. How else are we going to attract large crowds to all CAA games?

Looks like a really cool place to play a game. So much excitement surrounding this program...it's very encouraging for a program like UNC-Charlotte, where alums have been complaining about a lack of community on Saturdays for a long time.

Wilder has been successful at building excitment for the program and putting a winning product on the field. If this year's APR is any indication, he may be fall short on another priority, retaining and graduating players. The 757 is ripe with football talent and ODU has and will continue to rake in a great deal of that talent. However, a lot of that talent comes with considerable academic and disciplinary risks. If ODU gets hit with APR sanctions after next season, Wilder may have to rethink his recruiting strategy and cut-down on his risk exposure.

EPJr wrote:

I must say that's a nice looking stadium and impressive crowd...

Is the RTD article really about ODU dominating the Tidewater? Seems like a bit of false advertising by the OP.

wmtribe90 wrote:Wilder has been successful at building excitment for the program and putting a winning product on the field. If this year's APR is any indication, he may be fall short on another priority, retaining and graduating players. The 757 is ripe with football talent and ODU has and will continue to rake in a great deal of that talent. However, a lot of that talent comes with considerable academic and disciplinary risks. If ODU gets hit with APR sanctions after next season, Wilder may have to rethink his recruiting strategy and cut-down on his risk exposure.

This was addressed months ago. If the APR remains this low following the upcoming academic year then we should be worried, but no one's panicking now. Quotes from the following article: http://hamptonroads.com/2011/05/odu-foo ... gress-rate" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


"This is deceiving," athletic director Wood Selig said. "The two key factors are academic stability and player retention. Our very unique situation with a start-up program lent itself to some instability. Players who came in thinking they could play here transferred out" or quit playing football altogether.

ODU coach Bobby Wilder said the "goal is to score 1,000 and be perfect, but the obvious truth is that we brought 82 freshmen into the program on Aug. 13, 2008, and many of them were walk-ons. Of those, 23 are still here on the football team."

"The football team had a 2.71 overall grade-point average for the fall semester," associate athletic director Deb Polca said. "So we are confident the program is on stable academic footing."

VBR_Productions wrote:

wmtribe90 wrote:Wilder has been successful at building excitment for the program and putting a winning product on the field. If this year's APR is any indication, he may be fall short on another priority, retaining and graduating players. The 757 is ripe with football talent and ODU has and will continue to rake in a great deal of that talent. However, a lot of that talent comes with considerable academic and disciplinary risks. If ODU gets hit with APR sanctions after next season, Wilder may have to rethink his recruiting strategy and cut-down on his risk exposure.

This was addressed months ago. If the APR remains this low following the upcoming academic year then we should be worried, but no one's panicking now. Quotes from the following article: http://hamptonroads.com/2011/05/odu-foo ... gress-rate" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


"This is deceiving," athletic director Wood Selig said. "The two key factors are academic stability and player retention. Our very unique situation with a start-up program lent itself to some instability. Players who came in thinking they could play here transferred out" or quit playing football altogether.

ODU coach Bobby Wilder said the "goal is to score 1,000 and be perfect, but the obvious truth is that we brought 82 freshmen into the program on Aug. 13, 2008, and many of them were walk-ons. Of those, 23 are still here on the football team."

"The football team had a 2.71 overall grade-point average for the fall semester," associate athletic director Deb Polca said. "So we are confident the program is on stable academic footing."

The APR measures the academic progress of D1 SCHOLARSHIP athletes. So, the excuse about bringing in a bunch of walk-ons doesn't fly. Walk-ons leaving the program don't hurt or count against ODU's APR score. The APR also allows scholarship athletes in good standing to transfer out without negatively impacting your APR. Great that ODU's cumulative GPA is 2.7, but that really has little bearing on the APR score. That GPA likely includes walk-ons and is only loosely tied to progress towards graduating. After three years, the ODU program is failing to meet the minimal requirements with respect to retaining and graduating scholarship players. Could that change significantly by next year, sure, but the lack of real concern from your HC and AD are not a good sign.

wmtribe90 wrote:

VBR_Productions wrote:
This was addressed months ago. If the APR remains this low following the upcoming academic year then we should be worried, but no one's panicking now. Quotes from the following article: http://hamptonroads.com/2011/05/odu-foo ... gress-rate" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


"This is deceiving," athletic director Wood Selig said. "The two key factors are academic stability and player retention. Our very unique situation with a start-up program lent itself to some instability. Players who came in thinking they could play here transferred out" or quit playing football altogether.

ODU coach Bobby Wilder said the "goal is to score 1,000 and be perfect, but the obvious truth is that we brought 82 freshmen into the program on Aug. 13, 2008, and many of them were walk-ons. Of those, 23 are still here on the football team."

"The football team had a 2.71 overall grade-point average for the fall semester," associate athletic director Deb Polca said. "So we are confident the program is on stable academic footing."

The APR measures the academic progress of D1 SCHOLARSHIP athletes. So, the excuse about bringing in a bunch of walk-ons doesn't fly. Walk-ons leaving the program don't hurt or count against ODU's APR score. The APR also allows scholarship athletes in good standing to transfer out without negatively impacting your APR. Great that ODU's cumulative GPA is 2.7, but that really has little bearing on the APR score. That GPA likely includes walk-ons and is only loosely tied to progress towards graduating. After three years, the ODU program is failing to meet the minimal requirements with respect to retaining and graduating scholarship players. Could that change significantly by next year, sure, but the lack of real concern from your HC and AD are not a good sign.

If your position is correct then I'm not afraid to admit that my understanding of APR is wrong. I'm not going to debate something if I question my understanding of the topic.

Regarding the position of the HC and AD, they get paid to worry about those things so I'll let them do their jobs.

State Line Liquors wrote:Is the RTD article really about ODU dominating the Tidewater? Seems like a bit of false advertising by the OP.

I concur. I mean, in addition to changing the title of the article, I'm disappointed the OP didnt re-write the rest of the article.

2005. That was the year of the vote. God that was so long ago. I'm tired of reading ODU press. September please hurry up and get here.