Minium: There's a Baby Boom at ODU as Monarch Football Has Added Two Newborn to the Family

NORFOLK, Va. – It was the middle of a Kansas State football preseason practice and longtime head coach Bill Snyder was worried.

He looked at Inge Seiler, the wife of defensive line coach Blake Seiler, who was standing on the sidelines and obviously very pregnant. And K State's opener against Stanford was only a few weeks away.

What if the Seilers' child was born the day of the game?

"You know," Snyder said as he saddled up next to Inge, "football coaches don't have babies this time of year."

Inge smiled as she replied: "Your timing is not God's timing."

Snyder was joking, and both he and Inge laughed.

"He was nothing but wonderful to our kids," Inge added.

But there was a huge ring of truth in what he said. As best they can, many coaches and their wives plan to have babies in the eight months they aren't playing football.

Well, God's timing struck the Old Dominion football team twice recently.

Blake Seiler, now defensive coordinator for the Monarchs, and Inge had their fourth child on Thursday, Oct. 19, at 7:57 a.m. Son Jayd Samuel weighed in at a husky eight pounds and 15 ounces and was 21 ½ inches long. Jayd joins Elle, Brynn and Riggs in the ever-growing Seiler family.

Three days earlier, on Monday, Oct. 16, offensive line coach Alex Huettel and wife Danielle, had their second son, Gus Edward. Gus was also a healthy seven pounds, and 10 ounces and 21 ½ inches long. He joins big brother Boone.

Both the Seiler and Huettel families have a lot in common.

Both are Catholic, a faith that frowns upon most family planning.

And in both families, the female was the better athlete.

Danielle Marie Tonyan, as Danielle Huettel then known, was named All-Mid American Conference three times while playing volleyball at Bowling Green. She was a four-year starter and, said Alex, "The best volleyball player in the MAC.


ODU offensive line coach Alex Huettel.

"She is definitely the best athlete in this family."
 
She came from an athletic family – her brother, Robert, is in his first season with the Chicago Bears as a tight end after playing five seasons for the Green Bay Packers.

Alex was an offensive lineman on the football team and hadn't met Danielle until one day when he saw her working out in the weight room.

"I saw her squat 225 pounds," he said. "I've never seen a female squat that much weight."

He turned to a teammate and said, "I'm going to marry that girl."

He introduced himself to her after the workout and indeed married her.

Blake Seiler was a two-year starter on the Kansas State defensive line and a team captain his senior year. He began his collegiate career as a wrestler at perennial power Oklahoma State and helped the team win a national championship as a freshman. But again, his athletic resume looks shallow compared to his wife's.


Defensive coordinator Blake Seiler.

Inge Jorgensen was a standout women's basketball and track and field standout in high school in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. She went to Virginia, where she faced a ton of adversity.

Injuries kept her out of the 2002 and 2003 seasons. But she returned to compete as a redshirt junior and redshirt senior the next two seasons.

She left U.Va. as a four-time ACC champion and a three-time All-American in the javelin.

She worked briefly with the UVA football staff while earning a Master's degree before going to Manhattan, Kansas, where she became an assistant director of football operations. She was in charge of organizing player reunions and as a graduate, Seiler returned for a reunion in 2007.

They met on her birthday.

"It was the best birthday present I've ever had," Inge said.

Giving birth, or watching your child being born, all agreed, is a spiritual experience.

"It's always so special," Blake Seiler said. "We're people of faith and it's the greatest miracle I've ever experienced."

Inge said she will never forget what Dr. Mark J. Gross, the obstetrician who delivered her first two children, said to her about his job.

"He said the miracle never gets old for him," she said. "When the baby takes its first breath, it's God's miracle at work."


Alex Huettel works with offensive linemen before an ODU game. 

Having wives with athletic backgrounds has made for two healthy marriages.

"Danielle understands the hours, the long trips away from home," Alex Huettel said. "She's been awesome."

Awesome? Six days after giving birth, she came out to watch ODU host Coastal Carolina, something head coach Rick Rahne could not believe.

"She came out to the game six days later," he said. "I mean, she's a football savage."

And she is doing all she can to help her husband be successful. 

"Alex's job requires that he get enough sleep at night," Danielle said. "So, he's sleeping in Boone's bedroom with him. I'm sleeping with Gus."
 
A potential catastrophe for ODU was avoided when both boys were born early. Both wives were due on Oct. 28, the day the Monarchs were a play or two away from upsetting No. 25 James Madison.

Blake Seiler said there would have been no choice for him had his son not been born.

"I would have been with Inge," he said. "And (safeties coach) Remington Rebstock would have been our defensive coordinator."

Both coaches acknowledged to being somewhat distracted prior to the birth of their sons, Honestly, they're human. How could they not be?

"Both their units played really well" against JMU, Rahne said. "I mean, they still got their kids ready.

"The coaching staff came together and picked up some slack."

Alex Huettel said he is grateful for the help from other assistant coaches, and for Rahne's compassion.

"There was one night when Danielle didn't feel well and Ricky said to me, 'Get out of here. Go home,'" Huettel said.

"After Gus came, he said take whatever time you need.

"It's not like that everywhere. This staff, this team, we're a family."

A family with two brand new members.

Contact Minium at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram