By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. - There was so much on his to-do list when Ricky Rahne arrived on campus Dec. 10 to take over as Old Dominion University's head football coach.
Hire assistant coaches, prepare for signing day, begin searching for a house, visit local high schools, host recruits on campus, plan winter workouts, decide on the most pressing improvements that need to be made at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex, call dozens of donors, mingle with fans from Norfolk to Richmond – and Rahne has done a bit of all the above.
He had 22 events and meetings his second week alone, and that didn't include making two appearances at holiday receptions on Wednesday hosted by President John R. Broderick, where he was introduced to hundreds of ODU faculty members and employees.
That evening, he made an appearance at the ODU men's basketball game against Richmond, where he was introduced at halftime to a standing ovation. The former Cornell quarterback showed off his throwing arm, hurling half a dozen t-shirts into the crowd.
"It's been a whirlwind, but I've enjoyed it," Rahne said.
Senior associate athletic director Bruce Stewart said his stamina has been remarkable.
"I'm still trying to figure out when this guy sleeps," Stewart said.
But even with such a tight schedule, Rahne took some time out last weekend for something not necessarily on a new coaches' immediate agenda – he began reaching out to former players.
His first call was to Taylor Heinicke, the record-setting quarterback now in training camp with St. Louis of the XFL and Rick Lovato, the Pro Bowl long snapper for the Philadelphia Eagles.
He said he will speak with others in the NFL – Zach Pascal, Oshane Ximines, Travis Fulgham and Rashaad Coward, as well as other former ODU stars.
"It's important that I reached out to them early because we need all of Monarch Nation to be united in order to be successful," said Rahne, who resigned as Penn State's offensive coordinator to come to ODU.
"We can't be fractured between the old guys and the new guys. We have to be all in this together."
The former players were all coached by Bobby Wilder, ODU's only coach in its first 11 football seasons, and Rahne knew that it was up to him to reach out to them.
"ODU is their home," he said. "I did not coach them, but that doesn't mean that I don't care about their success because I do.
"I want them to have great relationships with me. I want them to come around as much as possible, to be around our guys, because their experience is going to help our guys get better.
"What Taylor Heinicke says is going to carry a little more weight than your average player, so I called him first. But I want all of those guys to know they can come around any time. I don't want to want them to feel like this isn't their home anymore.
"This is their home forever."
It's only been Rahne's home less than two weeks but already he has impressed with his energy and his willingness to do anything asked of him. He has poured himself into efforts to market the program.
His response to being asked to do public appearances has always been the same – just tell me when and where.
After being introduced at a press conference on Dec. 11, Rahne immediately began making the rounds at local high schools. Last Thursday, while he was visiting high schools in Virginia Beach, he stopped at a luncheon for wives of donors.
"He was such a hit with everyone there," said Jena Virga, who heads ODU athletic fundraising.
"They knew how busy he was and were thrilled that he took a few minutes to visit with them."
On Sunday, after watching state high school championship football games the previous afternoon, he made a stop at the ODU-VCU women's basketball game in Richmond to show support for the Monarchs.
ODU women's basketball coach Nikki McCray-Penson and men's basketball coach Jeff Jones were among the first to call and congratulate him after his hiring was announced "and that meant a lot to me," he said.
Rahne and assistant coach Mark Dupuis, who was a graduate assistant last season at Penn State, hosted about half a dozen recruits on campus this past weekend in advance of the early signing period, which began Wednesday.
ODU signed seven players, all three-star prospects recruited by the former coaching staff.
ODU will sign perhaps a similar number of players in February. "We saved some scholarships and we think the February signing period will be a good one," he said. "We think we can make an impact then. The type of players we get in February is going to be key."
Not every duty has been pleasant, including not retaining assistant coaches.
"To have that type of conversation with anyone isn't easy," he said. "I know some of them really well and some I don't know well but I know they are all good coaches.
"I respect that they are frustrated, that they gave a lot of years, of blood, sweat and tears into this place."
Then, he added: "I have to do what I think is best for the program moving forward. That's hard because we can only have 10 assistants. I've got to bring in the guys who I think are the best people not only to win next year, but far into the future."
We likely will have to wait until after New Year's Day to find out the names of all of his 10 assistant coaches. Most are in postseason play and he said he wants to make sure that any coach who comes to ODU gives his full attention to his current team until the season is done.
ODU is coming off a 1-11 season in which the Monarchs lost their last 11. After playing well at Virginia Tech and losing at Virginia after leading 17-0, the Monarchs disintegrated in the latter part of the season. The team suffered because of youthful mistakes and injuries and was 128th of 130 FBS schools in total offense.
Later in the year, when freshman quarterback Hayden Wolff helped put some life back in the offense, the defense was too beaten up to win.
I asked Rahne what fans should expect to from the Monarchs next season, and yes, it was an unfair question.
Rahne hasn't seen his players on the practice field and doesn't know what kind of talent he'll get in February. If ODU lands some good players from the transfer portal, that could improve their prospects for next season.
But he didn't flinch.
"I know this is an easy answer and a cliché, but our fans are going to see improvement in each and every game, and to me, that's the important thing, that we continually improve," he said.
"We're going to go 1-0 every week. We're not going to try to string together a streak of wins or try to win 12 games in one week. If we go 1-0 each week, we'll have great success.
"If every time our players enter this building, if they leave a better person, then success will take care of itself."
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu
Minium: Ricky Rahne Hit the Ground Running Since being named ODU’s Head Football Coach
