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Old Dominion added a familiar name to its football schedule Wednesday, announcing a home-and-home series with East Carolina in 2018 and 2019. The Monarchs will travel to Greenville, N.C., on Sept. 29, 2018, then host the Pirates on Sept. 28, 2019, ODU athletic director Wood Selig said. ECU is the fifth of six regional Football Bowl Subdivision schools the Monarchs have sought to add to their schedule since announcing three years ago they were moving up to FBS. ODU also has home-and-home agreements with Virginia Tech, North Carolina, North Carolina State and Wake Forest. ODU hopes to add at least two games with the University of Virginia. Otherwise, the Monarchs are done with scheduling big-name opponents in the foreseeable future. “These are teams we all know, that we all follow, that we all respect for their success and accomplishments and we know our fans want to see us play,” Selig said. “We’re still working with Virginia. It remains a goal of ours to play Virginia. That is another game that would resonate well with our fan base and our community.” read more: http://www.pilotonline.com/sports/odu-adds-east-carolina-to-football-schedules/article_9b334811-0782-5f6b-8245-008da6f845eb.html

Workers from AstroTurf, a Dalton Ga. company, began the process of planting the seal of Old Dominions new conference on the turf at Foreman Field Sunday afternoon. Workers are tearing out the Colonial Athletic Association logo and replacing it with one from Conference USA. AstroTurf employees should complete the task late Monday. But that is merely a symbolic change. The real change begins Monday at 6:15 a.m., when ODUs football team holds its first practice. This is a season of transition for ODU. The Monarchs left the CAA and joined Conference USA on July 1. However, because of NCAA rules, ODUs football team cant begin playing a Conference USA schedule until 2014. ODU plays as an independent this season, one that will present major challenges that the Monarchs have never faced before. ODU is moving from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision, and that's a huge step up, especially for a program that has played just four seasons of football. ODU has never played an FBS team, yet will play two in its first two games. The Monarchs open at East Carolina Aug. 31, and ECU is the consensus pick to the C-USAs East Division. ODU then plays at Maryland on Sept. 7. It will be ODUs first game ever against an ACC school. ODUs coaching staff has worked hard to prepare the Monarchs for the transition. They had what recruiting services say was a good FBS recruiting class - remarkable when you consider ODU wasn't yet at the FBS level. Regardless, it was one of the nations largest recruiting classes. There will be 37 new players in ODU blue and silver Monday, including 12 junior college and 25 high school players. All 12 juco transfers will play this season. So, likely, will at least a handful of the freshmen. Read more: http://hamptonroads.com/2013/08/sizing-who-may-back-heinicke-odu-opens-practice

Old Dominion is losing its closest Conference USA football rival two years before the Monarchs join the league. East Carolina University will leave C-USA to play Big East football in 2014, officials announced on Tuesday. Tulane is also jumping to the Big East in all sports, leaving C-USA with 12 teams. ODU announced in May that it is leaving the Colonial Athletic Association for C-USA and in the process, would jump from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision. Officials touted ECU’s proximity to Norfolk, and its long football tradition, as one of the attractions of moving up. ODU athletic director Wood Selig acknowledged that losing ECU is a blow, but said school officials would make the same decision again. He said ODU’s decision to become the state’s third FBS program, joining Virginia Tech and Virginia, and to join a conference located in many of the South’s largest markets, was a sound move. “The move to elevate our program was never driven by a desire to be affiliated with one or two institutions,” he said. “We remain very pleased with our decision to elevate football to FBS. We’ve elevated the profile of our entire sports program by joining Conference USA. “We’ll be competing on national TV at a much higher frequency on ESPN, Fox Sports and CBS Sports. Our television package will be much more lucrative from a financial standpoint.” ODU coach Bobby Wilder said “regardless of what ECU and Tulane just did, it doesn’t change the fact that we’re about to become the third FBS program in Virginia. “We didn’t make this move to C-USA with East Carolina as the primary reason. It certainly could have developed into a football rivalry, but we have no football history with ECU. “I believe the positives of this step still far outweigh the negatives.” Read more: http://hamptonroads.com/2012/11/ecu-football-leaving-conference-odu-joins

Read more: http://www.dailypress.com/sports/teel-blog/dp-teel-time-odu-basketball-cusa,0,1403162.story?track=rss

read more: http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20120505/SPORTS/205050340/SBC-monitoring-conference-shifts

Read more: http://www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-spt-teel-column-odu-cusa-20120506,0,4331219.column

Read more: http://boards.caazone.com/showthread.php?120338-How-a-21-year-old-would-view-this-potential-jump-to-CUSA

Five schools set to join Conference USA have scheduled news conferences for today, when the league is expected to announce expansion plans that will increase membership to 13. Texas-San Antonio's move was approved Thursday by University of Texas System regents. People familiar with the league's plans said North Texas, Charlotte, Louisiana Tech and Florida International also would be joining. A potential 14th member, Old Dominion, won't be part of the unveiling, sources said late Thursday. School officials have requested time to mull an offer that would provide many benefits - most notably a higher national profile and membership in a Football Bowl Subdivision conference - but also a jump in expenses. It was unclear Thursday how long C-USA's offer might remain on the table. A source within the conference said conference officials are likely to say today that they would like to add a 14th member but won't identify whom they are considering or how long it might take. Timing could be tricky for ODU, which had begun thinking in general terms about a move from the Colonial Athletic Association and the Football Championship Subdivision to FBS down the road but hasn't had time to complete a detailed analysis of the pros and cons when the offer was tendered, sources said. Read more: http://hamptonroads.com/2012/05/five-say-yes-odu-still-says-maybe-conference-usa

Let's hear your thought Mean Greeners!

All across the country there will be seven celebratory press conferences Friday to announce a school is moving to another conference in 2013. Florida International, North Texas, Texas San Antonio, Louisiana Tech and Charlotte are joining Conference USA in 2013, while San Jose State and Utah State are headed to the Mountain West. While those seven are moving on up, Old Dominion remains undecided whether to upgrade from the Colonial Athletic Association to Conference USA. An ODU spokeswoman told CBSSports.com Thursday afternoon the school would not be holding a press conference Friday related to its conference future. Later in the day, the school released the following statement: "Recent reports of conference realignment across the country have heightened our attention to focus on one of the primary goals of our intercollegiate athletic strategic plan, which is to continually assess the changing landscape of Division I athletics," the statement said. Read more: http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/brett-mcmurphy/18954539

Read more: http://boards.caazon...s-to-go-to-CUSA

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