Minium: Monarchs Will Honor Former Coach Mark Newman in ODU's Final Baseball Home Stand

By Harry Minium
 
That Old Dominion University's baseball team is nationally ranked this season has been big new around campus, as it should be. Although attendance has been limited by COVID, ODU has received more fan support than I would have expected, and the Monarchs have been media darlings.
 
But four decades ago, when the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex was among the finest facilities around, and Mark Newman was coaching the Monarchs, ODU was a familiar name in the Top 25.
 
Newman, a former Southern Illinois head coach, came to ODU in 1981, and for nine seasons, the University was a baseball powerhouse. His teams were 321-167-3, played in four conference championship games, won a Sun Belt Conference title and played in two NCAA regionals. 
 
His teams were often among the Top 25 for five consecutive seasons, from 1983 through 1987.
 
After leaving ODU, Newman worked for the beloved New York Yankees, first as coordinator of minor league instruction, and for 26 years helped develop players who led New York to four World Series titles, including Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada. 


 
But he never forgot his time in Norfolk. 
 
"He always kept up with the Monarchs," ODU coach Chris Finwood said. "We talked a couple of times a year. He would call or text after many of our games."

Finwood was working on bringing Newman back to ODU to speak at the annual baseball banquet when the former Monarch coach died unexpectedly in his sleep last September.

Newman will be honored when the Monarchs host Western Kentucky this weekend in their final home stand of the season.

The series begins Friday with a single game at 3 p.m. followed by a Saturday doubleheader that begins at 2 p.m. Newman will be honored during Saturday's first game. More than 60 players Newman coached will be there to pay homage to him.

Among them will be former ODU pitcher Jim Ambrose, who played from 1978 through 1982. His wife, Paula, reached out to me know how close the former Monarchs remain even four decades after leaving ODU.

"When people say ODU baseball is a family they mean it, truly," she said. "It's not just certain teams at certain times or a particular generation, it's the ground the Bud was grown on."

Jim Ambrose is a stage 4 cancer survivor and has been cancer free for five years.

"The outpouring of support I received from many of his baseball teammates still makes me tear up," she said. "They were among the first to let him know they were there for him and me."

She said many former players who did not play under Finwood have also reached out to him after the recent death of his wife, Annette.

She finished by writing:  "ODU teammates in Baseball, but always, Teammates in Life."

Finwood, whose Monarchs (33-13, 19-9 Conference USA) are ranked 13th in the NCAA RPI, said he appreciates the love and that he also appreciates everything Newman did for ODU.

"I went to coach Newman's baseball camps when I was in high school and later I worked his baseball camps," Finwood said. "I learned a lot of baseball from coach Newman, as a lot of coaches did.

"He was the smartest guy in the room no matter where he was. He had a law degree and had a fantastic, inquisitive mind. He was very well spoken and very competitive.

"He more than anyone changed college baseball in the state. No one had a stadium then and he somehow got this built here.

"At the time, it was maybe the best facility in the state. It was one of the first stadiums on campus in Virginia with lights and everything else. It changed the game."

ODU will honor its seniors in Sunday's finale, which begins at 2 p.m. All four games will be streamed on CUSA.TV and broadcast on the ODU Radio Network. There is no admission charge.

ODU concludes the regular season with two games at Louisiana Tech on May 20-21. Those games will not count in the Conference USA standings.

Five days later, ODU begins competition in the Conference USA tournament, also at Louisiana Tech.

ODU is currently on track to be a second seed in the NCAA tournament, according to the nation's foremost prognosticators. Baseball America has ODU playing at East Carolina, with Liberty No. 3 and VCU No. 4.

D1 Baseball has ODU playing at Vanderbilt, with Maryland No. 3 and Southeast Missouri State No. 4. 

D1 Baseball ranks Vanderbilt No. 2 and ECU No. 11 nationally. 

Minium was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, won 19 Virginia Press Association awards and 4 Associated Press and 3 Football Writers of America awards at The Virginian-Pilot. Since coming to ODU he has won an FWA award for column writing and the Fred Stabley Sr. award for feature writing. Follow him on Twitter @Harry_MiniumODU, Instagram @hbminium1 or email hminium@odu.edu