Minium: Tennant McVea Is Laying The Groundwork For A Successful ODU Men's Soccer Program
By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – Even when you succeed a good friend as a head coach, a guy who grew up in your hometown and someone you worked with for years, transitioning to take over for him isn’t always easy.
That’s certainly been the case for Tennant McVea, who is in his first season as the head coach of the Old Dominion men’s soccer team.
The Monarchs are 7-7-2 entering Sunday’s first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. They had to upset James Madison, 1-0, Tuesday night in their regular-season finale to qualify for the tournament and finished seventh in the 10-team league.
Win or lose, Dr. Wood Selig, ODU’s director of athletics, is pleased with what he has seen this season from McVea’s team.
“You can’t judge the tremendous job that coach Tennant and his staff have done since taking the reins of our program by the won-loss record,” Dr. Selig said.
“It’s not an accurate barometer of how hard they are working and how much they are moving our men’s soccer program forward.”
Dr. Selig says that’s in part because the Sun Belt is in essence a power league in men's soccer, with both Marshall and West Virginia among the nation’s top seven ranked teams. Four of the Sun Belt’s nine teams are from the Power 4 – South Carolina, Central Florida and Kentucky, in addition to West Virginia.
“There’s a foundation that is being created and there is a future that is going to be very successful for ODU men’s soccer,” Dr. Selig added. “It’s just hard to get there quickly. When you’ve got so many heavyweights like the Sun Belt, it’s difficult to push your way to the top.”
McVea took the place of long-time head coach Alan Dawson, and the two have been close for more than a decade. Both hail from Belfast, Northern Ireland and in addition to sharing the same background and accent, share the same insistence on hard work and discipline.
“That cultural upbringing was very important to our families, and the similarities are very stark,” McVea said. “There wasn’t a lot of money. We both had hard working parents trying to do the best for you.
“I love my culture. I love my past. I’m very proud of where I come from.”
McVea was Dawson’s assistant for nine of the previous 10 years before Dawson retired and they remain close. Dawson regularly attends ODU home games but tries to keep a low profile.
“We’ve known each other for a long time,” McVea said. “We’re from the same place. We both have a lot of the same ideas not just on the football field, but in life.
"Alan saw a lot of him in me. That sort of helped build that relationship. We both very much trusted each other. I always knew Alan would have my back.
“We are very close off the field. Alan is someone I can talk to quite candidly. That relationship helped on the field. Even to this day, we will go for a beer and I know he will listen to me and give me his best advice.”
But although close, they are not the same men, and McVea has made changes. McVea decided not to move into Dawson’s old office. He remains in offices with his assistant coaches, and Dawson’s old office is used for coaching meetings.
There have been small renovations to the team room and locker room, and the players noticed, said Owen Ruddy, a senior from Virginia Beach’s First Colonial High School, who was the Virginian-Pilot’s All-Tidewater Player of the Year as a senior.
“I think he wanted a new environment for us to help give us a fresh start,” Ruddy said. “We haven’t been as consistent in recent years as we were in the past. He wants us to be fully committed to being on an elite football club.”
ODU’s style of play changed, too. The Monarchs are playing more aggressively offensively, a style Dr. Selig said is more pleasing to ODU’s fan base.
“The game has changed very drastically in the last decade,” McVea said. “I want to score goals, but I also want to be a team that’s hard to beat.
“When you talk about controlling the tempo of the game, that means controlling the ball. I don’t want us to keep the ball just to keep it. There has to be a reason. I think it helps our players enjoy the game and fans grow the game.”
He said he also refocused his players on doing more not only to help build the fan base, but to get players to volunteer for community projects, such as reading to students at Norfolk schools.
“We do a lot in the community and even at our games,” McVea said. “I’ve opened up the field at halftime. We want as many kids to get posters, get them signed by the players, autographs, photographs after the game. Interaction with our fans should not be behind the gate. We want that interaction on the field.
“I want the kids to say, ‘I want to be like ODU’s players. I want to play there.’
“That’s our goal.”
And while ODU does not have a winning record, this team is playing far better this season than last. A year ago, the Monarchs lost their last seven games. This season, they won three of their last four.
Dr. Selig says he sees McVea “battling each day” on several fronts to advance ODU’s program.
“He’s recruiting internationally,” Dr. Selig said. “He’s recruiting domestically. And he’s getting good kids. They’re getting good grades. They are good citizens. They’re volunteering in the community.
“It’s not that we lacked any of that before. He’s just turned it up a notch.”
Dr. Selig said Dawson did more than most head coaches would do to prepare McVea for a head-coaching job.
“Alan allowed Tennant to take on responsibilities that normally a head coach would keep exclusively for themselves,” Dr. Selig said. “Alan was more than happy to share the opportunity with Tenant that a lot of assistant coaches don’t get.
“I think that made the transition less steep and less overwhelming than it would have been because how he was mentored by Alan.”
Ruddy said ODU players were relieved when Dr. Selig announced that Tennant would succeed Dawson.
“The biggest thing about him is not only does he give you that belief in yourself, he’s done such a good job from my freshman year to this year building team chemistry,” Ruddy said.
“Every once in a while, he’ll make sure to direct us to go on a walk with new teammates, to have coffee with them, to get to know them,” he said.
“It really helps to develop chemistry on and off the pitch. If you don’t collaborate in those ways, it’s very difficult to mesh. He’s intelligent about the psychology of a team. The mental side of the game, he understands that very well.”
McVea said he is fortunate to be coaching at ODU. He has roots here, from his time coaching amateur soccer in Norfolk and Virginia Beach to his time at ODU.
He is married to the former Jaclyn Stroud, who played women’s soccer for the Monarchs and played it well – in 2017 she was the Conference USA Defender of the Year and won the Tom Scott Award given each year by the Norfolk Sports Club to ODU’s top senior athlete.
“My wife is an Old Dominion graduate and we both love this university,” he said.
“I saw what Alan and his family got out of coaching here, of being a part of this great community. I want the same. If I don’t ever have to leave here, I never want to."
Minium is ODU's senior executive writer for athletics. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram