COACHES COURT CAMPAIGN HONORS FORMER AND CURRENT BASKETBALL COACHES IN NEW PERFORMANCE CENTER.
NORFOLK - When the Bernett and Blanche Mitchum Basketball Performance Center is completed in early 2017, it will be one of the few buildings on the Old Dominion University campus built entirely by private funds.
The uniqueness of the funding model has not been lost by the men’s and women’s basketball coaches or the Old Dominion Athletic Foundation staff who have created a variety of opportunities for donors to support the basketball programs. One of the most unique is a Coaches Court campaign, which pays tribute to ODU’s successful head basketball coaches.
“We are extremely grateful for the financial support committed from our former student-athletes and coaches. Both groups continue to be vital to the overall success of this basketball project. Typically former student athletes can be a difficult group from which to achieve fundraising success. The generosity exhibited from our former men's and women's basketball student athletes perhaps illustrates how ODU may be an exception to this national trend. We look forward to opening this exceptional showcase basketball performance center next season knowing the positive impact it will have on future generations of Monarch and Lady Monarch basketball teams,” remarks Director of Athletics Dr. Wood Selig.
Over the past year, men’s and women’s alumni basketball players have donated $675,000 in support of the coaches they played for while wearing a Monarch or Lady Monarch uniform. As a result, the names of national championship coaches Marianne Stanley and Sonny Allen, along with Bud Metheny, Paul Webb, Oliver Purnell, Tom Young, Jeff Capel, Blaine Taylor, Jeff Jones, Wendy Larry and Karen Barefoot will grace the playing floor of the primary practice court in the new facility.
“Old Dominion University and Marianne Stanley were very instrumental in my path of development as a student, athlete and young woman. Both Coach Stanley and ODU are very dear to me," says ODU All American and two-time gold medal Olympian Anne Donovan.
"I understand the very competitive world of recruiting and importance of having top notch facilities for our student-athletes. As Coach Barefoot continues to solidify the women's basketball program, I am glad to lend my support," adds Donovan.
In addition to Donovan, the ODAF has received major gifts for the Coaches Court from basketball alumni Kent Bazemore, Dave Twardzik, Parke Congleton, Kevin Larkin, Dick Fraim, Nancy Lieberman, Dee Pritchett, Leo Anthony, Jim Miller, Abigail Picache, and head coaches Jeff Jones and Karen Barefoot.
"Old Dominion was so crucial to my development, not only as a student-athlete, but as a young man. It is because of my time spent on the campus of ODU, I am who I am today,” says Kent Bazemore, now a member of the NBA Atlanta Hawks. “With such a great experience at ODU, I am honored to support the future student-athletes. The new basketball performance center will help take future Monarchs and Lady Monarchs to the next level.”
For more information on the Coaches Court Campaign and the Old Dominion Athletic Foundation, go to www.olddominionaf.com, or call 757- 683-6963.