NORFOLK, Va. – After 16 years, 21 conference championships, several firsts, and helping raise more than $157 million, Old Dominion Athletics Director Dr. Wood Selig announced Tuesday that he will retire as Director of Athletics effective December 31, 2026.
“Without question, Dr. Selig has certainly left his mark on the University, as well as at the conference level and across the national landscape,” ODU President Brian O. Hemphill, Ph.D. said. “I have been most inspired by his care for and connection to our student-athletes for whom he personally championed innovative initiatives and specialized support, such as dedicated mental health counseling resources and dining hall operations.”
Beginning in 2027, Selig will serve as the Kaufman Lecturer of Sport Management within ODU’s graduate sport management program. He will also transition into a role focused on athletics fundraising and donor stewardship.
“President Hemphill and I began discussing a teaching/fundraising role late last spring and I wish to thank him for this unique and tailor-made professional opportunity for me. I am excited about this next professional chapter as I have always wanted to give back to future generations of coaches and administrators. I thank President Hemphill for this new leadership role.”
Championship Effort has been a consistent theme for ODU athletics under Selig’s direction. ODU has won five conference championships in women’s tennis, four in men’s tennis, three in women’s soccer, two in men’s soccer, a championship in baseball, men’s basketball, women’s golf, and an FCS conference title in football.
There have been several firsts posted by Monarch athletics since Selig arrived in 2010. Men’s basketball achieved its first ever national AP top 25 ranking in 2014-15, baseball achieved its highest ever final season ranking of 16th in 2021 earning a number one seed in the NCAA tournament, football earned its highest FBS final ranking ever of 34th in 2025, and women’s tennis finished 27th nationally in 2022. Additionally, Selig hired Nikki McCray-Penson in 2017, ODU’s first female African American head coach in women’s basketball. He also helped launch women’s volleyball in 2020.
This past football season saw Ricky Rahne, who Selig hired in 2020, guide ODU to a 10-3 record and win the Cure Bowl. ODU in 2025 was one of just 25 FBS teams in the country to secure 10 or more wins. The Monarchs have played in a bowl game in three of the last five seasons.
Under Selig’s leadership, ODU student-athlete academic success has set multiple GPA and Dean’s List records including another record this past fall with a cumulative student-athlete GPA of 3.35 while 243 student-athletes that earned Dean’s List honors (3.4 GPA or higher) with 50 having a 4.0 GPA.
Selig has guided a $200 million athletic facility boom at ODU in the last 16 years. The upgrades are highlighted by football’s S.B. Ballard Stadium, one of the best, if not the best, venues in the Sun Belt Conference. Other world class facility enhancements include The Mitchum Basketball Performance Center for women’s and men’s basketball, the Ellmer Family Baseball Complex, a brand-new ODU Volleyball Center, and an expanded L.R. Hill complex to accommodate ODU’s football move from FCS to FBS.
Selig has been a constant advocate for student-athlete welfare. ODU now offers a Student-Athlete Mental Health and Well-being Center with a dedicated mental health team to serve the needs of ODU student-athletes, one of the few athletic departments nationally to offer such support.
Just this semester, ODU opened a dining hall specifically for student-athletes, renovating unused dining space in the Whitehurst Residence Hall. The student-athlete dining hall is a rare commodity for a Group of Six school and among the finest in the country.
“With nearly 30 years as a Division I athletic director, Dr. Selig is widely known and highly regarded for his professional achievement, personal engagement and significant success at Old Dominion University, as well as his advocacy and leadership among both Division I and FBS athletic directors,” Hemphill said.
Selig guided ODU’s transition from the FCS level in the CAA to FBS membership in Conference USA and later helped position ODU for its move to the Sun Belt Conference in 2022. He is the first athletics director to lead two football programs from FCS to FBS, having previously facilitated the move at Western Kentucky.
In his 27th year, Selig is currently the fourth longest serving FBS Athletics Director in the country after coming to ODU from WKU, where he spent 11 seasons as athletic director.
Since 1930, ODU has had just five Athletics Directors. Selig’s 16 seasons are the third longest tenure.
Selig has also been a significant figure to his peers as he served as the Chair of both the Sun Belt Conference and Conference-USA Athletic Directors during his tenure. He also served a four-year term on the prestigious Division I Women’s Basketball committee.
“Having the opportunity in 2010 to return home to Norfolk as ODU’s athletic director was a gift. It has been a magical time to be part of the ODU and Hampton Roads for the past 16 years. It was a unique opportunity to serve the community and University that were so important to me growing up in Norfolk,” Selig said. “During the next 10 months, I will continue to strengthen every ODU athletics program competitively, academically and financially.”
CSA Search & Consulting will be used to find Selig’s replacement.