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Bud Metheny served Old Dominion University for 32 years, joining the athletic staff in 1948 as head baseball and basketball coach, and later as athletic director. His first love was baseball, a sport he devoted all of those 32 years toward, rolling up a 423-363-6 record. He was honored by the NCAA as the Eastern Regional Coach of the Year in 1963 and 1964 when his Monarchs captured those College Division crowns. Metheny was named National Coach of the Year in 1964.
Bud served as head basketball coach from 1948-1965, compiling a 198-163 record and posting 16 winning seasons. The 198 wins is the most among men's basketball coaches at Old Dominion. He served as the university's athletic director from 1963-1970. "I've seen the school progress from an enrollment of about 1,000 to 15,000, "noted the veteran coach. "I'll always have a deep feeling for the institution. Considering my long association with Old Dominion, I'm probably one of the few people who could have this type of feeling, it's that strong."
Metheny came to Old Dominion after a career with the New York Yankees organization from 1938-47. Bud started for the Yankees in the second and last game of the 1943 World Series as the Yankees defeated the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1984, to honor Bud and his days with the Yankees, Old Dominion University adopted the white home uniform with blue pinstripes. This coincides with the University's new colors, adopted in 1986.
Bud was enshrined in the College Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in January of 1983 in Dallas, Texas, and is a member of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, the William and Mary Hall of Fame and the Tidewater Baseball Hall of Fame. The 1940 William and Mary graduate (he earned his M.Ed from William and Mary in 1952) launched his managerial career in 1948 piloting the boston Red Sox Class "D" team in Baxley, Ga. He spent the next two years in the Piedmont League (Class "B") playing outfield for the Portsmouth team in 1949-50 and managing the Newport News team in 1950. Despite those commitments, Metheny still found time to begin his 32-year Old Dominion career in the spring of 1948.
On Jan. 2, 2003 Bud Metheny and his wife Fran died on the same day due to long illnesses.