March 1, 2012
NORFOLK, Va. -- Old Dominion head coach Bobby Wilder was the recipient of the J. Roy Rodman Memorial Award given to Virginia's Outstanding Collegiate Coach at the 67th annual Norfolk Sports Club Jamboree on Thursday night at the Waterside Marriott.
Since restarting its football team in 2009, Wilder has guided Old Dominion, the winningest start-up program in FCS history, to a three-year total of 27 wins and only eight losses.
In the 2011 season, the Monarchs concluded the year at 10-3 overall, ranked No. 10 in both The Sports Network/Fathead.com and FCS Coaches Final Polls, and reached the second round of the FCS Championships.
In their first season of conference play, ODU went 6-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association, a league which sent five teams to the post-season. The Monarchs, picked to finish 10th in the CAA Preseason Poll, ended the year in a tie for second place in the conference which included wins over #20 UMass and #9/10 James Madison.
ODU, making its first playoff appearance in 2011, advanced to the second round of the FCS playoffs. The Monarchs picked up a first round victory over MEAC champions Norfolk State and reached the second round, squaring off against #3 Georgia Southern in one of the most thrilling games of the championships.
Additionally, 11 members of the ODU squad were named All-CAA, including 2011 CAA Defensive Player of the Year Ronnie Cameron (Westbury, NY). Cameron also earned seven All-America distinctions, while punter Jonathan Plisco (Newport News, Va.) was bestowed six All-America honors from various publications and quarterback Taylor Heinicke (Atlanta, Ga.) was honored as the College Football Performance Awards National Performer of the Year.
In the classroom, 15 Monarchs were named to the CAA All-Academic Team, including Cameron earning CAA Football's Student-Athlete of the Year honor, and 30 members of the team achieved a Fall 2011 semester grade point average of 30 or higher.