Michele Mulich stood before more than 200 of Old Dominion University's most generous athletics donors and implored them to stop thinking of giving back to ODU as just a financial transaction.
Instead of just writing a check, consider forming relationships with student-athletes. Mentor one athlete per year, she said. It will be one of the most rewarding things you've ever done.
She speaks from experience. Mulich has endowed a scholarship that is given each year to a female athlete who majors in technology.
During the 2022-23 school year, that scholarship was awarded to Miranda Byrne, a senior on the swim team who said Mulich affected her life more than anyone other than her parents.
When they met nearly two years ago, they clicked. They began to talk weekly, then more often. Mulich went to her swim meets.
When Byrne introduced Mulich at the annual Endowed Scholarship Luncheon this spring at Chartway Arena, she teared up. Mulich, sitting next to Byrne's parents, David and JoAnne Byrne, only barely kept their composure.
"Michele is an amazing and confident mentor and friend," Byrne said. "She is passionate about encouraging women in technology. I learned a lot from Michele simply by asking about her experiences and about navigating a male-dominated business world as a female.
"And she is absolutely the biggest sports fan I've ever known."
Mulich is indeed one of ODU's most enthusiastic athletic boosters.
"ODU gives me the opportunity to give back, to be able to help kids with their careers. To be able to come out and encourage those kids, that means a lot to me." - Michele Mulich
She has missed only one ODU home football game since the Monarchs began playing football in 2009 – a hurricane prevented her from driving to Norfolk – even though she lived much of that time nearly five hours away in Maryland.
Now living in Chesapeake, she attended one or more games, matches or regattas held by all 18 ODU athletic teams in 2022-23.
She and Byrne, who met in 2021 when the athlete reached out to her about summer internships, have developed a friendship "that will last a lifetime," Mulich said.
Mulich was inspired to begin mentoring athletes by Thomas DeMarco, the first starting quarterback for ODU football and, for a time, a fundraiser for the athletic department.
DeMarco attended ODU on a scholarship named for Barry Kornblau, an alumnus from Richmond and one of the University's top donors.
"Thomas told me what an impact it had on him to want to make Barry proud and to not let him down since he was enabling Thomas to get his education," she said. "That made quite an impression on me." And led her to establish her scholarship.
Byrne isn't the only athlete she's counseled. Other coaches have asked her to talk to their players.
"I try to let coaches know that if a student-athlete needs a mentor or a friend, I'm certainly here and available," she said. "If they want some advice or if they need to get off campus for a day, my home is always open."
Women's basketball coach DeLisha Milton-Jones said she has leaned on Mulich for help.
"There are very few fans I know who as are devoted to their alma maters as Michele Mulich," she said.
Endowed athletic scholarships are a big deal at ODU. Only a handful of Group of Five programs have had the fundraising success experienced by ODU, and endowed scholarships play a key role.
The Old Dominion Athletic Foundation, ODU's fundraising organization, raised $18 million in 2022, the most for the University in one year. Most of that funded scholarships and facility improvements.
But an increasing amount of the yearly total is being donated to endowed scholarships – those valued at $250,000 or more – and more alumni are putting ODU in their wills.
ODU's endowment stands at $46.5 million – the largest in the Sun Belt Conference and more than four ACC schools.
That endowment generates $1.2 million in interest per year. That revenue helps fund the more than $5 million ODAF provides for scholarships. The principle is never touched and keeps growing.
"Our goal is for ODU athletics to be fully endowed for all scholarships," Athletic Director Wood Selig said. "We would need $125 million to do that. That sounds insurmountable, but it's really not. We are adding about six new endowed scholarships every year. We have more than 90 endowed scholarships, and 35 people have put us in their will.”
Mulich has arranged for much of her estate to be donated to ODU. She hopes, by the time she retires, that her gift will provide ODU close to $1 million.
She credits what she learned at ODU for much of her business success.
Raised in Virginia Beach, she enrolled at ODU in 1981 and earned a business degree in information systems.
Her career took her to Nashville, Roanoke, Minneapolis and Southern California and the Baltimore area before she moved back home.
She has always worked in technology and was recently named strategic program manager of Allegis Group. She is planning an initiative to replace the company's business systems.
"ODU gives me the opportunity to give back, to be able to help kids with their careers,” she said. "To be able to come out and encourage those kids, that means a lot to me."
Six family members of the late Sonny Allen, the former men's basketball coach who led ODU to its first national title in 1975, also attended the luncheon.
Sonny’s son Billy, former ODU All-American Dave Twardzik and ex-Monarch radio voice Dick Fraim led an effort that raised more than $200,000 for a scholarship in Sonny Allen's name. More donations are expected to take it over $250,000 before next season.
Men’s basketball guard Chaunce Jenkins, who will receive the first Sonny Allen scholarship next season, was among those who sat with the Allens.
After the banquet, they exchanged phone numbers and hugged repeatedly.
"We were so moved by the message from Michele," Billy Allen said. "We want to follow in her footsteps."
"We told Chaunce we're going to pray for him weekly and stay in touch with him," added Billy’s wife, Lisa.
Mulich hopes to retire in a few years. She plans to help ODU find more donors and wants to spend more time working with student-athletes.
"ODU is my passion,” she said. "I can honestly say, maybe late in life, that I have finally found my purpose and my why."
A longer version of this story can be found on the ODU Athletics website.