Monarchs Announce 2009 Football Schedule

Old Dominion University's Athletic Director Jim Jarrett and Head Football Coach Bobby Wilder have announced the schedule for the 2009 football season. The Monarch's inaugural season will see ODU hosting seven home games. There will also be four away games and one game yet to be announced.

"We are very excited to have our 2009 schedule completed," said Coach Wilder. "Our goal for the past 18 months as we put this schedule together has been to play predominantly I-AA teams so that we're eligible for the playoffs starting in 2009."

Three contracts have been secured to complete the schedule and include home contests with Virginia Union on Sept. 12 and Campbell on Oct. 17. ODU will travel to New Rochelle, N.Y. on Nov. 14 to take on Iona College. Both Campbell and Iona compete in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly I-AA, and brings ODU's total FCS opponents to eight with Presbyterian becoming a full NCAA Division I member in 2011.

The 10,572 Monarch fans that have placed season ticket orders thus far will be the first to enjoy the newly renovated, state-of-the-art Foreman Field during the 2009 season. ODU will host the Hawks of Chowan University on Sept. 5 in the season opener and remaining home games include Monmouth (Sept. 26), North Carolina Central (Oct. 3), Presbyterian (Oct. 10) and Georgetown (Oct. 31).

ODU's bye week comes on Nov. 7 before the Monarchs close out the season on the road at Iona and VMI (Nov. 21).

"In developing our scheduling philosophy we studied four programs: Coastal Carolina, South Florida, Florida Atlantic and Florida International," said Wilder. "I personally spent time with head coaches Dave Bennett from Coastal Carolina and Jim Leavitt from South Florida. It was also important that we hired Bruce Stewart from Coastal Carolina as our Associate Athletic Director, as he was instrumental in their scheduling when they began football. In comparing our first year schedules to those four programs, we have planned to be very aggressive in the caliber of opponents we are playing. Although we will be a team of mostly redshirt freshmen, true freshmen and walk-ons, we wanted to challenge ourselves in the first year. Old Dominion football looks forward to that challenge."

ODU has not fielded a football team since 1940.

2009 Old Dominion University Football Schedule

Sept. 5    CHOWAN  at Norfolk, VA

Sept. 12   VA. UNION at Norfolk, VA 

Sept. 19   at Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL  

Sept. 26  MONMOUTH  at Norfolk, VA 

Oct. 3  NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL Norfolk, VA

Oct. 10 PRESBYTERIAN  at Norfolk, VA

Oct. 17 CAMPBELL at Norfolk, VA

Oct. 24 at Savannah State, Savannah, GA

Oct. 31 GEORGETOWN at Norfolk, VA

Nov. 7 OPEN

Nov. 14 at Iona,  New Rochelle, NY

Nov. 21 at VMI,  Lexington, VA

 (All times to be announced)