By Brendan O’Hallarn

After 35 years as ODU men’s golf coach, Murray Rudisill fully expected incoming athletic director Wood Selig to urge him to retire.

Instead, Selig sat down with Rudisill and implored him to stay on as coach for as long as he’d like. “He said, ‘You know when it’s time.’ I thought that was very nice of him,” Rudisill said.
And there’s lots of temptation to stay. “You look out your office window on a beautiful day and see this great new (Lambert’s Point) golf course. It really doesn’t seem like work,” Rudisill said.

When former athletic director Jim Jarrett hired Rudisill in 1975, he received a one-quarter teaching credit for coaching the golf team. His primary job was as a faculty member in the Darden College of Education, teaching future teachers.

But those were the days when ODU played Division II, and the job didn’t include year-round fundraising, recruiting and all the practice and tournaments associated with golf today. Rudisill retired from teaching in 2004, but wanted to stay on as golf coach because the Lambert’s Point Golf Course was getting ready to open.

“It’s really made a big difference for us,” he said. “We used to be embarrassed to bring recruits to campus. But now there’s so much happening in the campus community, with the football team and the Constant Center, it’s helping us recruit.”

The Monarchs enjoyed a solid season in 2009-10, with nine top 10 finishes, including a first and three seconds. The team captured its second straight ODU/Seascape title.

Even with the handicap of no home course in years past, Rudisill has had plenty of success over his career. During his tenure, the Monarch program has grown into one of the top-rated teams in the Southeast. ODU has captured six conference titles, including two CAA crowns since 2003, and Rudisill has won Virginia coach of the year honors five times.

One of his former players, Jim McGovern, won a tournament on the PGA Tour, and Jon Hurst became the first Monarch to qualify at the NCAA Division I championships. Rudisill is far prouder, however, of helping shape quality young men for more than three decades.

“That’s what I’m proudest about, the reputation of the program. Our players are respectful; our reputation is such that other schools want to be paired up with ODU players,” he said. “That, to me, is more important than any success on the golf course. But of course, we still want to win.”

That much is obvious to anyone who knows Rudisill. A competitor as both a coach and player (who just happens to have a 2 handicap at age 72), he has earned a reputation as an excellent golfer for his performances in regional and amateur events, and has teamed with ODU Hall of Famer J.P. Leigh to win more than 50 tournaments in the area.