By Harry Minium
Women's volleyball has been in the works for more than a decade at Old Dominion University.
And while it may have taken longer than some had hoped, the debut of the ODU's volleyball team Friday afternoon proved to be more than worth the wait.
Coach Fred Chao's Monarchs looked athletic, well-coached and poised in a surprising, 3-0, rout of George Mason. And although the Patriots were 4-22 last season, they have a long-established program with a roster of veterans.
Chao has ten freshmen or redshirt freshman on his 14-person roster. Yet the Monarchs won the first set, 25-10, and held off George Mason rallies like a veteran team in the second and third sets.
For a startup team to dominate a match with an established Division I program was, as Athletic Director Camden Wood Selig said, "absolutely stunning."
"For so many of us who worked hard to establish ODU women's volleyball, this will be one of the few days we will remember the rest of our lives," Dr. Selig said.
"You just think, wow, it really was all worth it. It couldn't have launched any better, and it will be a day that many of us will never forget."
ODU has long been known for its dedication to women's sports. It was the first school in Virginia to offer women athletic scholarships and has won national championships in women's basketball and field hockey.
ODU could have begun volleyball on the cheap. Simply hire a coach, set up a net in Chartway Arena and begin playing, some advised.
But the University, and especially President John R. Broderick, wanted to do it the right way. President Broderick wanted the Monarchs to play in a modern facility and like all ODU teams, have the ability to compete on a national basis.
To get to Friday's opener was akin to a long chess match that required skillful moves.
First, ODU needed to raise $8.5 million to build the Mitchum Basketball Performance Center. It was paid for with private dollars that took years to accumulate. The men's and women's basketball teams now have their offices, training facilities and practice facility there.
Once that opened, it freed the gymnasium at the Jim Jarrett Athletic Administration Building, where the men's and women's basketball teams formerly practiced, to be turned into a volleyball facility.
ODU spent $3.1 million designing and then refurbishing it into the ODU Volleyball Center, with nearly 900 seats and amenities that will allow Chao to recruit at a high level.
President Broderick, who is retiring this summer after 13 years as president, attended the first match with his wife, Kate, and they cheered every ODU dig, kill and assist.
"I have always looked forward to the day volleyball would start and now we have reached another milestone in intercollegiate athletics," he said prior to Friday's game.
"We can truly celebrate having a state-of-the-art facility with an outstanding coach and young women committed to following the ODU model of being engaged with their community while achieving at a high level in the classroom."
The volleyball players certainly are rock stars in the classroom. The 14 players had a combined 3.72 grade-point-average during the fall semester.
And as if he knew what was coming on Friday, Broderick added: "They are going to surprise a lot of opponents on the court, too."
Without President Broderick, none of this would have happened, Selig said.
"They've been 100 percent all in," Selig said of President Broderick and Greg DuBois, ODU's vice president for administration and finance.
"They have given us their total support for not just adding volleyball, but adding it in a big way. They wanted us to add it in a successful way.
"We all want to be competitive, not just in Conference USA, but nationally."
It was an emotional day for many who have long been involved in starting ODU volleyball.
Chao spent much of Friday morning in his office contemplating what he'd done the last two years to get ready for this match.
Coach Fred Chao and family
Carolyn Crutchfield, who we in athletics refer to as Coop, has been an unsung hero in the rise of ODU volleyball. She is an associate athletic director and senior woman administrator. An aside here, her last name was Cooper before she got married in 2018 (on all days, the night the ODU football team upset Virginia Tech). Coop is short for Cooper.
Coop was a volleyball player at Notre Dame and in an athletic department short on experience with volleyball, her advice and guidance has been invaluable the last four years.
She's the sport administrator for volleyball, and thus Chao reports to her. She even joined a few practice sessions early on.
When I asked her to describe her emotions while she watched the team win, she said "emotional" doesn't adequately describe how she felt.
"It took my breath away," she said
"When I saw them come out with so much emotion and play so well, my heart skipped a beat. I can't adequately describe how good it felt."
There are so many other unsung heroes, too many to single out here, but Rick French, associate athletic director for operations, deserves a huge shout out. He handled the renovation of the Jarrett gymnasium from the athletic department's perspective, while David Robichaud, director of design and construction, handled it from the University's side.
French worked tirelessly to get the facility open. It is first class in every way and both French and Robichaud deserve a ton of credit for that.
Because of the pandemic, less than 200 people were in the building Friday. Yet the crowd was electric. The crowd included football coach Ricky Rahne and his family. His wife, Jennifer, played volleyball at Cornell and she was on the opposite side of the arena from me, making a ton of noise.
The ODU Volleyball Center reminds me a bit of the old ODU fieldhouse, where the men's and women's basketball teams played decades ago. The noise there bounced from wall to wall, and a capacity crowd of 4,800 could sound like 10,000.
With a low ceiling and block walls, the ODU Volleyball Center also holds sound like a box. It's going to be an intimidating home court. It's difficult to imagine how loud the crowds will be when ODU can put 900 fans in the seats.
"It will be a house of noise," Selig said. "The roof is a metal roof. The noise will rain back on everyone back on the court."
And expect the place to often be packed when the pandemic finally subsides. More than 1,300 people watched a live stream of the game on the odusports.com website. That's an amazing number for a 2 p.m. game on a weekday.
"That tells me how much interest there is in volleyball, particularly in ODU volleyball," Selig said. "It's going to be a very popular team throughout the region."
ODU clearly hired the right guy in Chao, a George Mason alum whom Selig lured away from Duke, where he was an assistant coach.
Chao, incidentally, coached at George Mason for years, both as the men's head coach and an assistant on the women's team. It was appropriate for him to claim his first victory at ODU over a program with which he has so many ties.
Chao is soft spoken, humble and has a calm yet reassuring coaching style. Even when George Mason got on a role a couple of times, he exuded confidence as he spoke quietly to his players.
He will need some of that patience this season. Yes, the Monarchs looked terrific Friday, but bigger challenges await, including VCU, which plays at ODU Saturday at 4 p.m.
The Rams are picked to finish second in the Atlantic 10 and went to the NCAA tournament last season.
ODU then hosts Delaware State Sunday at 3 p.m. That's the first game in which fans will be allowed to attend. But attendance will be limited, so arrive early if you plan to attend.
Like Coop, Chao struggled to describe his emotions.
"It's a bit like a combination of reality shows, like when you're building a house in seven days or on a cooking show when you know whatever you make is going to be critiqued," Chao said.
"You don't know whether you're going to get chopped.
"You rely on the experience you have. You keep focused on the vision that you built along the way. And you share that vision with the players and the thing takes off.
"And I think we're taking off."
Coop agrees.
"Fred put together a great staff," she said of assistant coaches Adam McLamb and Becca Lamb.
"The three coaches share the same philosophy and mesh well together.
"Fred went out and got all the pieces, all the players he needed. Today was the chance to make sure they actually fit the puzzle.
"And they did."
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu
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