THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 21, 1995 TAG: 9503210423
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ALBANY, N.Y. LENGTH: Long : 122 lines
Starting in France and ending in The Dance, Old Dominion's 1994-95 basketball team really went places, both figuratively and literally.
The Monarchs - the adopted favorite of East Regional fans at Knickerbocker Arena - returned home Monday morning after losing, 64-52, to Tulsa in an NCAA tournament second-round game. Coach Jeff Capel's first season and a talented trio of seniors' last concluded with a national presence unrivaled by any previous ODU team.
The plucky Monarchs' triple overtime upset of Big East champion and third seed Villanova briefly catapulted Old Dominion into the spotlight. An entire nation of basketball fans saw most of the overtimes in prime time Friday night, and national television sports reports led with the upset.
Had the Monarchs beaten Tulsa, they would have been the media darlings of the Sweet 16 as the lowest remaining seed. Still, the one victory could portend big things for the program's future.
Then again, it may not.
Richmond pulled off major NCAA tournament upsets in 1988 and 1991. But the Spiders - once the bedrock program of the CAA - are 37-46 the past three seasons.
Old Dominion was attempting to become only the second 14 seed to make the regional semifinals in the 11 seasons the tournament has included 64 teams. Cleveland State did it in 1986.
The Vikings haven't been back to the tournament since. Cleveland State was 8-17 this season and finished 257th out of 302 teams in the RPI Report, which simulates the Ratings Percentage Index used by the NCAA to select and seed the tournament field.
The point is this: As significant as ODU's upset of Villanova was, it doesn't guarantee future success. All it does is provide another building block to the solid foundation Capel has laid in his 11 months on Hampton Boulevard.
Capel's impact on ODU's program has been immense. He immediately won the Monarchs' respect and affection during last summer's trip to France. Then, before they coached a game, Capel and his assistants corralled a recruiting class that analysts rated among the top 25 in the nation.
He wisely played a grueling schedule that would test the Monarchs and prepare them for the postseason. The schedule was designed with the best player in the conference, center Odell Hodge, in mind. Hodge was lost to a knee injury in the fourth game of the season, and ODU struggled to a 5-8 record through the nonconference schedule.
Capel called a meeting and let the players air their gripes and concerns, and the Monarchs breezed through the CAA as Petey Sessoms became the best player in the league. Even without Hodge, they fulfilled preseason predictions and won the league regular-season and conference tournament championships.
ODU and Capel capped the season with the unlikely postseason run. A good coaching job by a good coach, who also happens to be a good person.
``Coach Capel took us places we never imagined we could go, especially without Odell,'' senior guard Mike Jones said. ``(The program) can go nowhere but up as long as he stays here.''
Jones isn't talking about going places like France, Illinois, New Orleans, Hawaii, Seattle, Philadelphia, Arizona and Albany - all stops on ODU's far-flung itinerary over the past eight months. He's talking about going to a higher level.
ODU has won 20 games three consecutive seasons. The Monarchs have a chance to keep climbing the ladder next year with the return of Hodge, forward Mario Mullen and guard Brion Dunlap, as well as talented transfer Joe Bunn and the incoming recruits.
The only glaring missing piece is a deadly outside shooter, a role E.J. Sherod could grasp with the right summertime work ethic.
In the long run, ODU can find another reason for optimism in the on-campus arena that is in the planning stage. The arena should be in the playing stage in about four or five years.
Will Capel be around for dedication day? He talks as though he will.
Capel didn't stay put long Monday upon the Monarchs' return to Norfolk. He caught a plane for Knoxville, Tenn., to look at high school players. Coaches are allowed out on the road to recruit until a dead period kicks in Tuesday, and ODU went right to work trying to capitalize on its tournament success.
Now athletic director Jim Jarrett and ODU's administration should go to work to enhance the coach's financial package.
Capel has talked about aspiring to take ODU to a higher level, much as John Calipari has done at Massachusetts. When Calipari arrived on campus, the Minutemen had been 81-194 during 10 consecutive losing seasons and had not appeared in the NCAA tournament since 1962.
After a losing record his first year, Calipari is 147-50 in six consecutive winning seasons and has led UMass to four straight NCAA appearances.
``I think that is a good comparison,'' Capel said. ``UMass was a small program, not obscure but certainly not a household name. Now in the last four or five years, they've become a household name.''
Calipari was asked at the Albany sub-regional what impact beating Villanova could have for ODU's quest to increase its profile.
``I think that's a big step,'' he said.
Calipari laid out some others, such as scheduling as many quality opponents as possible, which may help a program land on national TV.
Once you're on TV, you've got exposure the great players crave. It's a self-perpetuating cycle.
According to information UMass provided to a Massachusetts newspaper last fall, here's what becoming a household name has meant to the university:
An estimated $350,000 windfall for the university's general fund is projected in 1994-95 from licensing of UMass insignia merchandise.
Student applications rose 14 percent from 1992 to 1994.
Total fund-raising at the university is up 44 percent since Calipari arrived in 1988, and basketball success is tabbed as the primary reason.
Calipari has done much for UMass, and the school reciprocated. He earns a base salary of $132,000 and a total package estimated at $600,000 annually.
By no means does Capel - who has a base salary of $86,000 and total package worth an estimated $150,000 - command dollars comparable to Calipari's at this point. But Old Dominion must decide if it wants to become more than a mid-major program making the occasional blip on the national scene. If so, it will have to either handsomely compensate a successful coach or risk losing him.
The Monarchs found that out last year when Oliver Purnell left for an annual $325,000 pot of gold at Dayton.
After a year in which ODU went a long way, the question now is, how far is it willing to go? ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
PAUL AIKEN/Staff
Upon arriving home, Old Dominion coach Jeff Capel wastes no time as
he waits for a flight to Knoxville, Tenn., for a recruiting trip.
``You gotta go while you're hot,'' says Capel.
by CNB