The Road We Are On?

[barkinloud]

I've always been surprised at how successful ODU and La Tech have been in women's basketball considering the two schools are completely different.

ODU is a public school with about 22,000 students (3rd largest in VA behind Va Tech and George Mason). The Tidewater area has about 1.5 million people and ODU is located in a very urban area, right between downtown Norfolk and the Norfolk Naval Base. There are no pro teams in the area, but there is AAA baseball and AHL hockey. There's a lot of competition for the entertainment dollar, from shopping to movies (I swear there's a movieplex or indie movie theater on every corner) to golf (I swear there's a golf course on every corner too) to the beaches (Va Beach, Chesapeake Bay, Atlantic Ocean, even ODU has it's own beach on the Elizabeth River).

ODU currently has 16 varsity sports, but will add Division 1-AA (championship series or whatever stupid name the NCAA calls it now) football in 2009. To accomodate Title 9, ODU will also add women's volleyball, softball, and crew. Side note: I'm very proud that ODU is adding women's sports and not cutting men's sports like many other bigger schools do.

Women's basketball isn't the only sport ODU can hang their hat on at ODU. ODU men's basketball won the 1975 Division 2 national title and have made 10 NCAA appearances and 11 NIT appearances since moving to Division 1 in 1976. Just recently, ODU made the NCAA's in 2005 as CAA champs, the NIT Final Four in 2006, and the NCAA's in 2007 as an at large bid. The ODU men lead the CAA in attendance, averaging over 7000 fans (ODU's arena seats 8600).

Also ODU sailing has won 16 national titles. Field hockey is a very popular sport in southern VA and ODU has won 9 national titles with 16 Final Fours (ODU field hockey is like Tenn women's hoops). Men's soccer is always ranked in the top 25 and just advanced to the NCAA Elite 8. Wrestling is ranked in the top 25. Baseball is ranked in the top 25 and has had several high draft picks (Detriot star pitcher Justin Verlander was the #2 pick a couple years ago). Women's lacrosse is ranked in the top 25 (the ODU coach is also the US national team coach). ODU sports have the highest winning percentage among all athletic programs in the state of VA (including UVa and Va Tech).

I'm interested in seeing how the new football program will affect all other sports at ODU, especially women's hoops. ODU has already sold over 9000 season tickets so there is strong interest in the area. I'm hoping it will increase school spirit that will trickle down to all sports. The new football coach is a great guy and hypes up all ODU sports when he talks. He's a regular at ODU women's basketball games and very good friends with Wendy Larry (he called her weekly radio show once and said he wanted to be her when he grows up). I can see him being like Bruce Pearl, painting his face blue and going crazy in the student section during big games.

Does football help La Tech women's hoops at all? Is there a positive affect for recruiting? Do the Lady Techsters get lost in the shuffle? Do you think La Tech would be better with or without football?

Actually, we actually expected womens basketball to help out our mediocre mens' teams. Now there is a backlash against our BEST PROGRAM BY FAR because it does not generate the funds for the man sports. The mediocre men sports have given the Techsters an incurable disease. Sadly, the Techster program will be dead as door knob a few years from now and we'll be left with nothing to headline our schools in sports. Some of these people think that football an mbb will somehow become of a national power because of Derek Dooley. A dose of reality in the next three years will be the result of some very angry people on this board. But, nope, I'm the crazy one.

[Cool Hand Clyde]

Actually, we actually expected womens basketball to help out our mediocre mens' teams.

Explain that one please.

[champion110]

Explain that one please.

Why encourage him?

To the ODU fan:
Barkinloud is just a flamer on our board. He loves to stir. To figure out who you can trust, take a look at the green dots vs. red dots beside the person's name. Green means good reputation points and red means bad reputation. The more of them, the more intense the reputation.

[Cool Hand Clyde]

Can Louisiana Tech become what Louisville has (before the move to the Big East)? If so, our WBB team will soon have the resources needed to compete.

[champion110]

Can Louisiana Tech become what Louisville has (before the move to the Big East)? If so, our WBB team will soon have the resources needed to compete.

I am hoping our mbb team becomes the Memphis or Louiville. At the same time, I am hoping that our wbb team can return to consistent NCAA's and a Final Four here and there.

The two are not mutually exclusive - thank goodness!

[johnnylightnin]

Can Louisiana Tech become what Louisville has (before the move to the Big East)? If so, our WBB team will soon have the resources needed to compete.

The Lady Cards ain't no joke! I see NO reason why Tech can't have the success of teams like Louisville, Cincinnati, Memphis, and Gonzaga.

[Mean Gene]

Champ touched on a great point a few posts back. My daughter is a junior at a school where the Techsters are looking at 2 players ( unfortunately, BOTH R GUARDS!! Geez!! ). I know both of the girls & their families & HAVE NOT ( nor WILL I EVER ) trash CL in front of them!! He's actually doing a fine job of that all by himself because both of these girls are considering ULM now instead of Tech ( exclusively before this past season ). However, I've dropped a few names ( from the past glory years ) & they both say that given a chance to play under T-Spoon's guidance ( even as a AC ) they'd jump back on the Techster bandwagon.
Just to pique my own curiousity, I asked who they'd enjoy playing for the most if they could pick their own HC. U can easily guess this person - KM!! However, both families are not wealthy enough to afford Baylor ( plus one of the girls freely admits that she's not good enough to play @ Baylor but feels she COULD contribute @ ULM and/or Tech ). Guess that lets us know where we stand in the recruiting phase but PhilGarris; Dwayne & CHC have already noted that we're not getting the local recruits.
My point here is that even if we ARE stuck w/CL as our HC, if we could get a former "big name" Techster on the coaching staff ( whether it's T-Spoon; Jennifer White or someone else ) then I feel like our recruiting will step it up a notch. THEN we gotta get CL to recruit some height!!

MG

[hookdown]

One thing that ODU forgot to point out and is a big factor as well, the Tidewater area is probably the most fertile recruiting ground in all of VA, including northern VA and the DC suburbs, and one of the most productive on the East Coast from Atlanta to PA/NJ. As long as they can keep some of the local talent at home, they will always be competitive.

[champion110]

One thing that ODU forgot to point out and is a big factor as well, the Tidewater area is probably the most fertile recruiting ground in all of VA, including northern VA and the DC suburbs, and one of the most productive on the East Coast from Atlanta to PA/NJ. As long as they can keep some of the local talent at home, they will always be competitive.

ODU used to go after a lot of girls from overseas, actually. Don't know if they still do that, though.

[odumonarch]

Beaux66 is correct, ODU head coach Wendy Larry is a big reason for ODU's success. That's why I mentioned that when Wendy retires ODU will be in a similar situation that La Tech is in now. And that's why I'm so interested in how La Tech handles the transition. I want La Tech to be successful and I want ODU to learn from their experience.

ODU used to recruit nationally much like Tenn and UConn do today. From 1976-85, ODU signed many high school All Americans who led ODU to 4 national titles and multiple Final Fours. But when the football schools started paying attention to Title 9 in the late 1980's, ODU could no longer sign those stars. From 1986-1995, ODU went into a "slump" and only advanced to 2 Sweet 16's. So ODU started to recruit overseas. From 1996-2004, ODU went to multiple Sweet 16's, Elite 8's, and the 1997 Final 4 thanks to foreign born stars.

La Tech never had a "slump" like ODU in the late 1980's. In fact, La Tech only got stronger in the 1980's, winning the 1988 title. I think Leon's ability to find players in the rural south that no one had heard of and turn them into stars was a big reason. Plus ODU went through a coaching change during that time (Wendy Larry replaced Marianne Stanley in 1987).

ODU doesn't recruit overseas as often as they used to. A recent NCAA rule change on eligibility has made it harder to recruit overseas. ODU has a Russian on this year's team and next year will have a Scottish player. But that's not much considering the 1997 Final 4 team started 3 overseas players and 2 more off the bench.

Hookdown is right, the southern VA has really become a hot bed for high school girls talent. So ODU has been focusing on the local kids in recent years. 7 of the 12 players on this year's roster are from southern VA, including the 3 top scorers.

Excuse my ignorance, but is Louisianna a hot bed of talent? Can La Tech tap into the endless talent pool in Texas? Maybe get a game with Texas now that Mickie DeMoss is an assistant there (ODU is playing at Texas next year)?

I think Spoon could do for La Tech what Dawn Staley did for Temple. They are very similar people (great players, big names from their pro careers, great personalities). It would be great if Spoon could be an assistant at La Tech for a year or two and then take over. But I don't know if Long would want to hire an assistant who could be his replacement.

[beaux66]

we have a hotbed of talent here but Kim Mulkey snatches them all. We lost way more than just a good coach in her. She is taking alot of talent with her.

[champion110]

Beaux66 is correct, ODU head coach Wendy Larry is a big reason for ODU's success. That's why I mentioned that when Wendy retires ODU will be in a similar situation that La Tech is in now. And that's why I'm so interested in how La Tech handles the transition. I want La Tech to be successful and I want ODU to learn from their experience.

ODU used to recruit nationally much like Tenn and UConn do today. From 1976-85, ODU signed many high school All Americans who led ODU to 4 national titles and multiple Final Fours. But when the football schools started paying attention to Title 9 in the late 1980's, ODU could no longer sign those stars. From 1986-1995, ODU went into a "slump" and only advanced to 2 Sweet 16's. So ODU started to recruit overseas. From 1996-2004, ODU went to multiple Sweet 16's, Elite 8's, and the 1997 Final 4 thanks to foreign born stars.

La Tech never had a "slump" like ODU in the late 1980's. In fact, La Tech only got stronger in the 1980's, winning the 1988 title. I think Leon's ability to find players in the rural south that no one had heard of and turn them into stars was a big reason. Plus ODU went through a coaching change during that time (Wendy Larry replaced Marianne Stanley in 1987).

ODU doesn't recruit overseas as often as they used to. A recent NCAA rule change on eligibility has made it harder to recruit overseas. ODU has a Russian on this year's team and next year will have a Scottish player. But that's not much considering the 1997 Final 4 team started 3 overseas players and 2 more off the bench.

Hookdown is right, the southern VA has really become a hot bed for high school girls talent. So ODU has been focusing on the local kids in recent years. 7 of the 12 players on this year's roster are from southern VA, including the 3 top scorers.

Excuse my ignorance, but is Louisianna a hot bed of talent? Can La Tech tap into the endless talent pool in Texas? Maybe get a game with Texas now that Mickie DeMoss is an assistant there (ODU is playing at Texas next year)?

I think Spoon could do for La Tech what Dawn Staley did for Temple. They are very similar people (great players, big names from their pro careers, great personalities). It would be great if Spoon could be an assistant at La Tech for a year or two and then take over. But I don't know if Long would want to hire an assistant who could be his replacement.

I thought that I remembered that correctly about the International talent. That was a good move on ODU's part. Yeah, we kept strong when ODU dropped, but we are experiencing our drop now. Hopefully, we can turn it around much like ODU did.

We used to recruit more out of Texas, but with Baylor, Texas A&M, and now a rebuilt Texas program, it is much harder than it used to be. We used to pretty much have our pick there. I would like to see us get back in there again, but there is a lot of talent in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama, as well. We are recruiting those areas pretty hard and have the top 3 from Alabama coming in next year.

We have a long way to go, but if there is anything that the people on this section of the board agree upon, it is that we want to get it back. It is just taking much longer than anyone suspected.

I hope we can get TSpoon, but if not her, I hope we can get another former Techster that has a name in that spot. Actually, we have 3 assistant spots to fill.

[champion110]

Oh and just FYI - those programs that we are recruiting against in Texas mostly have former Techster coaches that were trained by Barmore. They know how to compete for recruits:
Texas Tech
Baylor
Texas A&M
Texas (Mickie DeMoss former Techster player)
and
Okie State (will also be hitting Texas hard)

are all former Techster coaches.

[Mean Gene]

Champ - What's your feeling ( & Phil, if he's reading this ) about being able to continue to recruit 'Bama now that Joni's gone back there? I don't really recall it being a hotbed of Techster talent until recently but I may have missed some folks. Shoot, we used to reach WAY out because wasn't Pam Gant from Illinois?

[champion110]

Champ - What's your feeling ( & Phil, if he's reading this ) about being able to continue to recruit 'Bama now that Joni's gone back there? I don't really recall it being a hotbed of Techster talent until recently but I may have missed some folks. Shoot, we used to reach WAY out because wasn't Pam Gant from Illinois?

I think it will really depend on how we do with what we have next year and the years following that. It will, also, depend on what type of name we get in as an assistant. Joni will recruit hard against us. If these girls are as good as we think, they will carry some weight back to Alabama and help us out.