
DATE: Friday, March 28, 1997                TAG: 9703280565

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BOB MOLINARO, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: CINCINNATI                        LENGTH:  150 lines

LADY MONARCHS' JOURNEY TO GLORY COMES FULL CIRCLE

Here at the women's Final Four, people are talking about the Old Dominion University basketball program in terms of where the Lady Monarchs once were.

As in, ``They're back.''

As in, back near the top of the polls. Back in the national spotlight. Back, finally (and fittingly), in the Final Four.

The showcase gets under way tonight. Second-ranked ODU (33-1) plays No. 3 Stanford (34-1) in the first semifinal at 7. The winner moves on to Sunday's championship game against the survivor of the Tennessee-Notre Dame game.

The other night in Indiana, after ODU's victory in the Mideast Regional final, coach Wendy Larry noted how appropriate it was that the Lady Monarchs had returned to basketball prominence.

``Old Dominion,'' she pointed out, ``has been a pioneer for a long time.''

She left it at that, for anyone familiar with the rise of women's basketball should understand what she meant.

Still, it's been a long time since ODU first blazed a path for female athletics - since it fielded the nation's most celebrated team, led by the country's most exciting player, and opened people's eyes to what was possible for women's basketball.

People forget the seismic changes that took place in the sport 20 years ago. Or they are too young to care what happened during the Carter administration. After all, despite its growth, women's basketball does not exactly suffer from too much exposure or popularity.

So when you say, ``They're back,'' the next thought should be, ``From where?''

To answer that, you must go back more than 12 years - the last time ODU won the national basketball title - all the way to those Disco Days of the '70s, when an entertaining collection of Lady Monarch egos and talents made inroads into popular sports culture.

Marianne Stanley, only a couple of years older than most of her players, was the coach. Nancy Lieberman and Inge Nissen were the divas. They led ODU to back-to-back national titles in 1978-79 and '79-80 - AIAW titles, for the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. The NCAA did not begin governing women's sports until 1981.

After the first title, the team added freshman and future All-American Anne Donovan to the mix, inspiring Sports Illustrated to write: ``The Lady Monarchs have put together what is possibly the finest women's college team in history.''

That same S.I. of December 1979 said: ``Defending champion Old Dominion has so much ability and depth that some coaches rank its starting team No. 1 in the country and its bench No. 2.''

In the back of the magazine was a 10-page feature on Lieberman, known in those days as Lady Magic. Ten full pages. And this was before ESPN came on board to hype women's coverage.

Lieberman, the point guard with a sidewalks-of-New York swagger, was the lightning rod for national publicity. But Nissen, the 24-year-old Great Dane, could be as intriguing in her own way, as much for her lifestyle as her inside scoring.

``If I could smoke at timeouts, I'd light up fast,'' she once said.

In personality and performance, ODU was bigger and bolder than the fledgling sport. Not even athletic director Jim Jarrett could have envisioned the impact ODU would have when he decided to place greater emphasis on women's sports.

In the mid-'70s, Jarrett and ODU president Alfred B. Rollins began awarding basketball scholarships to women. At the time, this was unheard of for Virginia schools. What's more, it ran counter to the philosophy of the AIAW, which actually frowned upon recruiting.

``We recognized the need to improve the women's athletic program overall,'' Jarrett says today. ``Basketball became our flagship program.''

Jarrett went out and found an aggressive, temperamental coach, Pam Parsons, who recruited Lieberman and Nissen. In those days, ODU did not have a lot to offer a recruit but enthusiasm and possibilities.

No question, the athletic department was thinking big. ODU even started selling season tickets to Lady Monarchs' games. This at a time when many schools wouldn't dare charge admission for their women's games.

Before Title IX mandates kicked in, ODU was fast-breaking its way to prominence, joining the likes of Tennessee, Texas and Louisiana Tech. Also included in the original mix of powerhouses were Delta State, Immaculata, Cheyney State and Montclair State, holdovers from another era in women's athletics.

It was an era that already was coming to an end, even in the late '70s. The NCAA soon would take over the sport, and the smaller schools - ODU included - were on borrowed time until the big universities in the power conferences began pouring money into women's basketball.

The prevailing wisdom proved true. Tennessee is making its 11th visit to the Final Four, Stanford its third in a row.

The Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference are strong presences in the sport. Connecticut - alma mater of Jennifer Lobo, star of ESPN, commercials and the women's Olympic Team - is the glamour program that ODU once was.

Even so, ODU initially adapted well to the changes. The NCAA's first two Final Fours in 1982 and '83 were held at Scope because of ODU's reputation for attracting crowds to women's games.

The Lady Monarchs surprised some people by winning the national championship in 1984-85, finishing with a record of 31-3.

Then hard times set in. Or at least hard times as ODU knew them. For the next decade, the Lady Monarchs fell from national contention. As Stanley gave way to Larry, ODU no longer posed a serious threat in the tournament.

In 1991, the Lady Monarchs dropped to 5-21. ODU's tradition was being eclipsed by the big universities.

It was happening just the way people said it would.

A commuter school like ODU, which plays its women's games in a gym, is at a disadvantage recruiting against colleges that offer gleaming arenas on beautiful campuses.

Said Larry: ``There's just something to be said for that kind of overwhelming, state-of-the-art facility, and the locker rooms - the list goes on.''

What's more, the expansion in women's college basketball had spread out the talent available to most schools.

``It's a changing world,'' Larry said, ``and tradition alone just doesn't do it anymore.''

What did it for ODU - what got the Lady Monarchs back to the Final Four - was the pipeline to Portugal. The Lady Monarchs have capitalized on foreign exchange to make their recent fortune.

Allison Greene, ODU assistant in charge of recruiting, played in Portugal's national club league. Her experience introduced her to the talents of Ticha Penicheiro, Clarisse Machanguana and Mery Andrade.

On Greene's advice, Larry visited Portugal to have a look. Today, the three international recruits make up the heart and soul of the team.

An international flavor is not completely new to ODU. In addition to Nissen, the '80 title team featured Canadian guard Chris Critelli.

In any case, it is more difficult for ODU to attract the best American players today than it was years ago. A Final Four appearance should help, but competition from the big conferences increases.

In one important sense, ODU is back among the elite. Lady Monarch victories this season over Final Four entries Stanford and Tennessee prove as much.

How much longer ODU remains there is another question. In the important arenas of TV exposure, national recognition and popularity with high school prospects, ODU has trouble keeping up with the marquee universities.

Today, the big Sports Illustrated features usually go to the kids from Connecticut, Tennessee and Stanford.

Ironically, this is the legacy of the Lady Monarchs' program.

As pioneers, ODU helped define and develop the women's game. This year, at last, it has found a way to renew its past. ILLUSTRATION: File photo:

ODU All-American Nancy Lieberman celebrates with her mother, Renee,

in 1979 after the Lady Monarchs won the first of two back-to-back

AIAW national championships with a 75-65 victory against Louisiana

Tech in Greensboro, N.C.

ODU Women's Basketball Program [Timeline]

For complete copy, see microfilm

Graphic

The ODU Women's Basketball Program, year by Year:

For complete copy, see microfilm KEYWORDS: TIMELINE OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY WOMEN'S BASKETBALL