Minium: In the End, Ricky Rahne Says ODU Will Benefit From Not Playing Football this Season

By Harry Minium
He knew the question was coming, and as he does so often in interviews, Old Dominion football coach Ricky Rahne answered it directly and honestly while also talking about his family.
He adores his wife, Jen, and sons, Jacob and Ryder, and I've never had a conversation with Rahne in which he did not mention their names repeatedly.

In the end, do you think not playing this season will be a negative or a positive?

"My wife is an eternal optimist and she has convinced me that this is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me in the history of my career,'' he said with a smile that brought laughs from those in the audience.

Then, getting serious he said: "And I tend to agree with her. It has allowed us to develop the team from top to bottom. It has allowed us to really dive into things that under normal circumstances you wouldn't be able to do.

"It has helped. Ultimately it's going to end up being a positive."

In his first appearance before a relatively large group of people since the pandemic began, Rahne took questions from all comers at a Norfolk Sports Club luncheon at the Town Point Club in the World Trade Center.

With ships passing by on the Norfolk harbor in the background, Jack Ankerson, the public address voice of virtually every team in the area, moderated the event and he made the presentation more compelling than just a speech.

Rahne, the former Penn State offensive coordinator who was hired ten months ago, held the audience in the palm of his hand for 50 minutes. Athletic Director Wood Selig has often said he can't wait for Rahne to be able to get out and mingle with fans.

"The ones he hasn't met are going to love him," Selig said.

Rahne said the defense will be much improved, says he isn't close to naming a starting quarterback and says one of the many reasons he came to ODU is that Penn State coach James Franklin urged him to pursue the job from the moment it opened.

Following are excerpts of his sports club presentation.

More on not playing football this season, with the first comment speaking of recruiting:

"It hasn't helped that we haven't been able to have these guys (high school coaches and recruits) on campus. But we have developed some really good relationships with high school coaches and players in the area. We've done pretty well recruiting. I feel really good about the recruiting class we have so far. We beat quite a few Power 5 schools for some of those guys, and I feel good about that.

"Not playing this fall has allowed me to develop great relationships with these guys that I might not have had the opportunity to do otherwise. I think that's going to be a huge plus for us."

You were the offensive coordinator at Penn State, one of the top college football programs in the country. What attracted you to Old Dominion?

"We did travel camps at ODU for a few years to try to attract more talent, so I'd been here a few times. The main reasons? Number 1, I love the talent in high school football in Virginia. All around the state, not just this region. I loved that. 

No. 2 the facilities were already here. I like doing this sort of thing (speaking to groups) but I hate asking people for money. That's why we have Jena Virga (who helps lead ODU's athletic fundraising efforts) and Wood, they can do that. I just like to talk football. The fact that we had the stadium, that we had good facilities, that was huge for me.

"The last reason was when I came here and met everybody, Dr. Selig, when I met Jena, (Senior Associate Athletic Director) Bruce Stewart and Coop (Senior Women's Administrator Carolyn Cooper Crutchfield) and President John Broderick, it was awesome. I could feel like this is a place where I could be successful, that the people whose support I needed would give me that support. That was the main reason. I was really excited about it. 

"Coach Franklin also played a big role. He told me this is a job I should take. There were a couple of others he told me you don't want that job, don't take that job, that's someplace you don't want to go. With this one, right away he was like, you should take it and I'll help you get it. He's obviously a mentor of mine and he's also a friend of mine. So his opinion meant a lot to me."



Every year our defense is non-existent. It's been an issue since we were in FCS and your predecessor was unable to solve that problem. What can you do to solve that?

"I feel like I was able to hire the best defensive coordinator in our conference in Blake Seiler. He was a player when I was a coach at Kansas State. He ended up being the defensive coordinator at Kansas State, where he did a phenomenal job. Last year he was the special teams coordinator at West Virginia.

"I was thrilled when he agreed to come here and I think our fans will love our defense.

"Our (defensive scheme) is a little unusual to the naked eye but I think it's very simple for our players. Blake Seiler is an engineer by trade. He's a very meticulous, detailed guy. And our staff on that side of the ball is fantastic.

"Our players have really responded well to our coaches. And I think the focus on fundamentals that we're doing now will make us much, much better."

How are you keeping players motivated and involved?

"We decided to break down our conference opponents and were able use them to build game plans for them so our guys would learn how we do game plans, how we watch film. That's something that will really help us next season.

"Now we're into padded practices so we're essentially getting another spring ball right now. We go three times a week in practice and three days in the weight room and that's kept the guys motivated.

"They want to get better. And we're helping them get better. It may sound like a cliché, but we've been talking about going 1-0 each day, winning each day. That's how we're keeping score now. Did you get better today? And we're being honest with them. We had a practice a couple of days ago I didn't think we won so I told them we lost today. And we can't get this day back.

"Everyone talks about making time, but you can't do that. Time is a finite resource that goes away and never comes back. Explaining that to an 18-year-old kid sometimes is hard. I think we've been able to do that."

How long will you practice this fall?

"We'll stop two weeks before Thanksgiving break and then our kids will go home. They will come back in January and will work out three or four weeks and then we will start spring ball. Spring practice will be much earlier this year. It will end in March."

What precautions have you taken to protect your players against COVID-19?

"Essentially, a select group of our players and coaches get tested every week. Anybody that has any symptoms is tested and put away, quite frankly.

"We had a thing where we had some guys who had symptoms, so I just canceled a practice one Friday. We're not messing around with this. We're taking precautions. Protecting our players and coaches is paramount.

"Our players are wearing masks everywhere. They've done a really good job of that. Quite frankly, I think they've been the campus leaders for that.

"They've got masks on their helmets. They've got eye shields, which they hate because they fog up when it rains. And when they don't have their helmets on, they have a mask they pull up. Anytime they're in the weight room they wear masks. I jog on the treadmill and it's awful jogging with a mask on, but I do it to show the guys that I'm doing the same thing they are.

"All of our staff meetings are by Zoom even though everyone is still in their offices. If we do meet in person, everyone is six feet apart. We've separated the team into two so that we can have more distance in the meeting rooms. We've made a lot of adjustments that the kids haven't blinked at, so it's been good."



You're in a conference where you play teams like Rice that are so far away. Is there any chance of playing a more localized schedule?

"The one thing I hear often is 'our traditional rivals, our traditional rivals.' Well, I've been a Power 5 full-time position coach longer than ODU has had a program and everyone tells me how young I am.

"We've got to make those traditions happen. Do I wish we didn't have to go to Rice and some of those schools so far away? Yes. But on the other hand, it's a cool experience to be able to go to Texas.

"I think we've got to look at it that way and see it as an opportunity and not an obstacle. If we win and score points and stop people, fans in this area will show up to the games.

"We've got to play well and execute and make it an enjoyable experience in the stadium. I'm more concerned that we beat the people on our schedule rather than who's on it.

"I'm excited that we're going to be playing at South Carolina (in 2024). We've recruited down there very well. I'm looking forward to going down there with some of our home-grown kids and competing against South Carolina."

Have your quarterbacks lived up to your standards so far?

"My standards are pretty high because I coached Trace McSorley, who I would argue is one of the best college football quarterbacks of the last couple of decades My standards are impossibly high. 

"That being said, I've been very pleased with how our guys have been playing. I've been happy with how they've gone about their business. Obviously, we've got a long way to go before we pick a starter. 

"This is not one of those situations I want to make a decision too fast. We've got to let that play itself out and make sure we've got the right guy lined up behind center."

What do you want your legacy to be when you leave ODU?

"I would hope they would say this. We won a lot of games, we won the right way with players from this region, that we got players from this region and didn't have to go out and get a lot of mercenaries. 

"I told our team the other day, if they say we're the toughest and most relentless team in the country, if those are the two words they use to describe our teams from here on out, I'll be excited and will feel good about it.

"I've never thought in terms of legacy, but I gave my guys a quote the other day. Reputation is what other people say about you. Character is who you really are."

You were at Penn State after the NCAA sanction there and had to coach with reduced scholarships. What did you learn from that experience that you've carried with you here? 

"No. 1, the offensive line depth matters. That was the thing that got affected the most. No. 2, the quarterback matters. No. 3, if you have (former Penn State and New York Giants running back) Saquon Barkley, that's also helpful.

"Brent Pry, Penn State's defensive coordinator, I learned a lot from him. He said the kids have got to believe in you. The coach who's doing that the best right now in the country is Sam Pittman at Arkansas. He's an awesome dude. I spent two days with him and left thinking I was the greatest coach in the world. All he did was keep telling me how great I saw. He's got those guys believing.

"But it's got to earned. That's not something you can fake. They've got to know they've earned that belief through hard work. Brent was great at making those guys think they had the best defensive scheme in the country."

Ankerson ended the presentation by saying "I do believe everyone in this room and many, many thousands more, are anxiously awaiting the fall of 2021. We sorely missed it this year, but are really looking forward to next year. Everyone in Hampton Roads I think will agree with me that the future of Old Dominion football is in such great hands."

Rahne then made a quick plug for fans to attend ODU games.

"I want our stadium to be the place to be, somewhere everyone who goes has fun. It can be what it has been in the past. We talked about believing and if you want our players to believe, you've got to get behind them. And if you're there at the game cheering them on, it's going to feel more big-time and they're going to play better.

"I've seen it happen at Penn State. The white out games are just amazing. They're like an extra ten points. If we can continue to have that here, it will be a tremendous help."

Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu