By Harry Minium
Speaking to nearly every athletic team and attending 75 or so games per year isn't on the job description of many college presidents. Neither is inviting athletes to dinner at your home or making surprise visits to locker rooms to give pep talks.
Old Dominion University President John R. Broderick already has a ton on his plate. Between fundraising, meeting with state officials in Richmond, running a University and being an ambassador for ODU at hundreds of events, the president works a lot of 12-hour days without much respite.
That President Broderick shares so much of himself with athletes is just one of many reasons why he leaves an awesome legacy at ODU and why he will be so deeply missed.
He announced Monday that he will retire in the summer of 2021. He will have been ODU's president for 13 years.
President Broderick took a part in every key decision made in athletics for more than a decade. He helped hire athletic director Wood Selig, which turned out to be a really good choice.
Under his watch, ODU began playing football, built the Mitchum Performance Center for men's and women's basketball, added women's volleyball, made the leap into the Football Bowl Subdivision, played a major role in hiring Bobby Wilder as football coach and completed the nearly $70 million makeover of Kornblau Field at S.B. Ballard Stadium.
Assuming the football season is played as scheduled, and recent news indicates the chances of that happening are getting better, you can thank President Broderick in part for ODU's home schedule, which includes games with the University of Virginia and Wake Forest from the ACC.
Ten years ago, who would have thought that hosting ACC teams would have been possible for ODU? Wake and U.Va. will join North Carolina, N.C. State and Virginia Tech as ACC teams that have played at ODU.
President Broderick also served on the search committees for every major head coach that ODU selected in the last 12 years, and from what I've seen of women's basketball coach Delisha Milton-Jones and football coach Ricky Rahne, the University managed to land some awesome coaches even in the past year.
Selig said that when he interviewed for the ODU job in 2010, Broderick made his steadfast support for athletics known.
"I could sense in my interview how much he valued and supported in every measurable way a healthy, vibrant intercollegiate program," Dr. Selig said.
"It was very important to me to work with someone who believed in athletics. President Broderick clearly believes athletics is an important part of a university.
"He made that clear by attending so many of our events. It wasn't just football or our marquee sports. He went to as many lacrosse, field hockey and soccer games as he would football and basketball."
ODU President John R. Broderick meets with the ODU women's basketball team in February.
He also developed close relationships over the years with hundreds of ODU athletes.
"I was fortunate enough to receive emails from him whenever the team or I individually performed well," ODU women's tennis star Holly Hutchinson said.
"It was reassuring that even at the top, he was keeping up to date with how we were doing. At every single athletic banquet, he and his wife, Kate, were the first people to congratulate me when our team made it to the NCAAs or won an award.
"It is the smallest of gestures that made him so likable, and you never felt he was too high up to communicate with."
Football player Mufu Taiwo, ODU's SAAC (Student Athletic Advisory Committee) president, said President Broderick has been a mentor.
"I've met with him a lot personally," Taiwo said. "He knows my story. He knows my Mom."
My most vivid memory of President Broderick came during ODU's 49-35 football upset of Virginia Tech in 2018. He and Kate came onto the sidelines at old Foreman Field just after halftime. Their faces were somber and filled with stress.
I didn't understand why until after the game, when he walked into the locker room and told ODU players that he'd buried his father earlier that morning in Connecticut. He thought the game was so important that he and Kate had flown back to Norfolk as quickly as possible.
He told the Monarchs that his father was surely watching the game. He said was so proud of them and thanked them for the victory. The locker room erupted into cheers, with some tears mixed in.
ODU would not have a new S.B. Ballard Stadium without President John R. Broderick
Most of President Broderick's accomplishments had little to do with athletics. He has been a prodigious fundraiser, securing almost $1 billion in additional funding for ODU over his 12 years. He has been articulate in making the case in Richmond that it was in the best interest of the commonwealth to invest in ODU.
ODU has become a national leader in STEM-H education, winning state money for new engineering and chemistry buildings and for Owens House, a residential facility built to house 470 students majoring in sciences, technology, engineering, math and health sciences.
President Broderick also made sure that ODU continued to invest in online learning, where the University is also a national leader. That investment made the transition of 3,000 classes from in-person to online when the coronavirus pandemic hit a much smoother operation.
Enrollment is declining at most universities but has risen about 5% this summer at ODU because our online program is so ahead of the curve.
He's done much more to transform ODU that I won't go into, but I think the most important change he made is one that has received far too little recognition.
One of his immediate goals when named president was to continue the outreach that former President James Koch began to minority students to make sure they knew they were welcome at ODU. And President Broderick went a step further – he reemphasized ODU's role as an institution that can break the cycle of poverty.
He opened ODU's $20 million Student Success Center and, with First Lady Kate Broderick's help, began programs to provide academic help for students aspiring to be the first from their families to graduate from college.
In his 12 years here, thousands of "first-gen" students have earned their degrees and dramatically improved their lives. The best thing that universities can do is provide students with a chance to succeed in life. Nobody does that better than ODU.
Old Dominion has become a school of choice for African Americans and is ranked nationally among the best schools for minority students. Nearly 7,000 ODU students are African Americans, more than any other public four-year school in Virginia.
President Broderick has also been fiscally prudent to ensure that ODU is as affordable as possible. The University remains the least expensive doctoral university in the commonwealth. Yes, he has supported athletics, but he also pressed the athletics department to raise more private money and reduce costs to become less reliant on student fees.
ODU President John R. Broderick played a big role in hiring new ODU football coach Ricky Rahne.
ODU raised $10 million privately to help fund Ballard Stadium, twice the original goal.
I know President Broderick better than most journalists because we struck up a friendship before he became president. As a reporter and later sports columnist at The Virginian-Pilot, I sometimes wrote stories he didn't like, but he remained remarkably accessible and was direct when he gave me feedback.
I respected his honesty and his willingness to provide background to help me understand complex stories. But more than anything, I admired him for being a caring man. He took the time to offer advice and concern about challenges in my life.
First Lady Kate Broderick is a force in her own right. A former nurse and teacher, she has been a tireless advocate for educational access for students with disabilities.
She and the president have been married for 40 years and go everywhere together. After 40 years, their love is apparent whenever you seen them. Their marriage and their three sons – all of whom graduated from ODU – are models for traditional family values.
"His heart and Kate's heart are truly with the students," Selig said. "And President Broderick didn't act independent of Kate. He worked with Kate. They're a team.
"They both worked for the overall benefit of students and that's so admirable."
President Broderick wrote a letter on Monday to the ODU community announcing his retirement. He said the highlight of his career was shaking the hands of nearly 30,000 gradates since 2008.
"On those days, everyone I congratulate represents a successful journey," he wrote. ". . . When my eyes meet theirs on the stage of Chartway Arena, I see leaders emerging, civic-mindedness expanding and social mobility progressing."
We will always remember him for his contributions to athletics. But his commitment to helping so many to rise out of poverty will be his most important legacy.
Thankfully, we'll have another year of his leadership, and plenty of time to congratulate him for making ODU a much better University.
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu