Old Dominion quarterbacks coach and pass game coordinator Ron Whitcomb begins his ninth season with the Monarchs. ODUSports.com recently sat down with his to discuss his coaching career, the state of the Monarchs and more.
Q: How and why did you get into coaching?
RW: My introduction to coaching was very quick. Coach Wilder sat me down for my post-season interview as a player and told me he was a candidate for several FCS head coaching jobs and he if he got one if I had an interest in being a coach. Old Dominion worked out and three months after my playing career ended I was the quarterbacks coach at Old Dominion.
Q: You’ve been at Old Dominion for nine years. Did you think it would become what it is so fast?
RW: As soon as I got here I knew what an unbelievable opportunity this University had to become a special football program. I do remember early on I couldn’t fathom a day where we were actually going to play in the CAA. I started in 2007 and playing that first season of CAA in 2011 seemed so far out, and now we’re so far beyond that.
Q: What has the move to Conference USA done for the program?
RW: I don’t think I personally realized how awesome of an opportunity Conference USA was, just the national brand and how good of football it is. These are good football programs. I think it has raised the bar of the level of football we’re playing.
Q: Can you sum up Taylor’s career and what he did for Old Dominion?
RW: Everybody knows all of his accomplishments but when he and I step back, I think the maturity that he had to basically go through three separate transitions. He transitioned us into the CAA, the best FCS conference, into a very unique 2013 season and being full-fledged C-USA last year, and he kept us together. That doesn’t give all the credit to him, but I don’t think anybody could say that if there was one person keeping things together, he did it. He did it in a really mature fashion. It wasn’t all flash and easy, and it stats didn’t always go up.
Q: ODU has had two very good quarterbacks and two very different quarterbacks. How are you able to help them do what they do best?
RW: Coach Scott and I have been working together for almost 14 years now so we’re always going to quickly identify the strengths and weaknesses of our quarterback and the strength and weaknesses of our offense. Right now we have the C-USA Freshman of the Year at running back (Ray Lawry). He’s going to be a featured guy, and Shuler knows that. Shuler does some things that are very similar to Taylor and there are some things he can’t do that Taylor’s done. We’re always cater to the quarterbacks strength, but at the same time some things don’t change, like ball security and completion percentage and things of that nature.
Q: Thomas DeMarco was the first quarterback here and is now in his fourth year in the CFL. What has made him so successful?
RW: He’s unbelievable. Thomas is going to be successful in whatever he does in life. He’s got a positive attitude, he’s not afraid to ask questions and he knows how to build relationships. I know he has a very close relationship with President Broderick, as do a lot of our players, but I know today even being in Canada, he still picks up the phone to call the president, he calls Coach Wilder and myself and he’s able to keep those relationships.
Q: You currently have four quarterbacks on the roster explain a little bit about this group?
RW: We’re not a very big group. Joey is out for the season and no one has played a snap. Every single day that we meet I’m trying to remind them that we don’t need to do anything more then just our job. We’re going to have ups and downs and not let anything emotionally bring us up to high or to low and things will work out.
Q: What are your recruiting philosophies?
RW: My recruiting philosophy is I want to recruit guys that want to recruit Old Dominion. I want guys that want to be here. Everybody sees the phone calls and the hand written letters and all the hoopla that goes into recruiting, but at the end of the day I want guys that bleed blue and white. If they don’t want to come to Old Dominion that’s fine, because we’re never going to win because of talent, we’re we’re going to win because of guys doing things right on and off the field.
Q: You are from Rochester and you’ve been able to recruit that area pretty well. Is it extra meaningful when you get players from that area?
RW: Yeah it’s fun. I have a connection with them and they can have a conversation with me about back home and we understand the same thing. A lot of times the reason it works out brining guys down from Rochester is they want to be at Old Dominion. They’re up in a snow globe there entire life and they see Virginia Beach and they view this place as heaven on earth.