An inside perspective on coaching in the ODAC.
Playing in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference means bringing the best every week and finding a way to do it again the next.
For the coaches at Virginia Wesleyan University, ODAC competition is less of a season and more of a grueling test of consistency and endurance. Every match carries weight. There are no off days, easy opponents or shortcuts to success in the ODAC.
The ODAC includes 14 schools across Virginia and surrounding states, each fielding programs with long-standing traditions of success. Programs like Washington and Lee University have a championship pedigree, with 20 ODAC championships in Women’s Volleyball.
“Even if you’re the top team in the conference playing the bottom team in the conference, you got to expect it’s going to be a battle and a grind,” said Shane Kohler, head coach of Men’s Soccer.
Chris Francis, head coach of Men’s Baseball for the past 11 years, has seen the ODAC’s competitiveness up close. “It’s the winningest conference in the country in Division III … a couple years ago, one of our last-place teams had a 20-win season, there’s just no easy weekend off, right?”
The ODAC breeds intensity due to the rivalries across the conference, built on a foundation of competition and respect.
As an added bonus, each school in the ODAC is within driving distance, meaning rivalries get a local boost.
“Our guys grew up playing with a lot of guys that end up at [Randolph-]Macon or Lynchburg or [Hampden-]Sydney,” Francis said. “It’s sort of a friendly rivalry, but very heated during competition.”
“Randolph-Macon, CNU, Bridgewater, all have players that our kids have played with in high school and in clubs. So definitely fuels that fire a little,” said Karissa Cumberbatch, head coach of Women’s and Men’s Volleyball.
While there might be respect, there isn’t much love lost in the ODAC. For Men’s Soccer, the rivalries run deep and wide. “I think it’s every single team in the conference,” Kohler said. Baseball doesn’t have one clear-cut rival either, though certain matchups bring extra intensity. “Hampden-Sydney’s given us fits the last few years,” Francis said.
“We really do look at each game that we play in the ODAC as the game of the week,” Francis said.
To win in the ODAC, the formula is simple: prepare, prepare, prepare. “As far as the mental performance goes, I mean, we just got to know that every game we’re going into battle. That’s how we prepare,” Cumberbatch said.
“There aren’t many games in the ODAC that you can just walk in and be blind and, you know, get a win.”
However, even with the maximum preparation, sometimes things don’t go the Marlins’ way in conference play. “You don’t play your best 100 percent of the time for every point,” Cumberbatch said.
“We’ve gotten really good at winning ugly and understanding that we don’t have to be perfect,” Cumberbatch said. This season, Women’s Volleyball seems to have cracked the code for success in the ODAC. The Marlins are 26-1 overall, and 9-0 in ODAC play.
The energy of a home crowd helps, too. “There’s a ton of home-field advantage,” Kohler said. “About 40 percent of the students here are student-athletes … There’s just a lot of camaraderie amongst all the students.”
That same energy that provides an advantage also defines VWU athletics. “I love being here because I’m a really small-town kid,” Cumberbatch said. “I get that tight community on campus where kids know my name, even if I don’t know them.”
That energy extends to every program. Francis said that’s what makes VWU different. Wesleyan has the “best people I’ve ever been around,” Francis said. “Other places may have more stuff than us, but they certainly don’t have the relationships that we have.”
