Good Morning, ODU Fam. It may be summer, but these Monarchs are ready to start hoopin’!
What all do we have stirring in today’s Brew? Check it out below!
🏀 Summer Sessions
🙌 Helping Hands
⏱️ Countin’ Down: 54 Days Away
🦁 And much more!
🏈 COUNTIN’ DOWN: 5️⃣4️⃣ DAYS TIL KICKOFF
Throughout the summer, we will be counting down the days
to the return of ODU Football this fall. The Monarchs will host
Norfolk State on September 5 at 6 p.m.
Right from the start last fall, ODU showed the home crowd at Ballard Stadium that they were in for a treat in 2025.
In the home opener, the Monarchs rolled past North Carolina Central to the tune of 5️⃣4️⃣-6, piling up 5️⃣4️⃣4 yards of total offense in the victory.
📈 STOCK UP
🔼 Summer Sessions. With 13 new faces on the roster for the upcoming 2026-27 campaign, ODU women’s hoops is hard at working building chemistry on and off the court.
Go inside the start of summer sessions with the Monarchs.
🔼 Mic’d Up With Mo. The ODU men’s hoops program also has some new faces, both on the court and on the sidelines.
One of those new faces on the sidelines is assistant coach Jim Molinari, who had several stints as a Division I head coach at three different programs.
🔼 Helping Hands. ODU women's lacrosse standout Brynn Bowen was recently named the Division I recipient of the Individual IWLCA Community Awareness Award, while the Monarchs earned the Division I Team Community Awareness Award.
As a team, the Monarchs recorded 1,605 community service hours during the 2025-26 academic year through a variety of initiatives across the Norfolk area. They assisted with freshman move-in, welcomed local elementary students back to school, mentored youth through the ODU Kids Club, wrote letters to community members through a Pen Pals program, volunteered in the Student-Athlete Success Center, and supported numerous Old Dominion athletics events.
⚾️ WHAT A RUN
One of the best careers of this era of Major League Baseball and the best player ever to come out of ODU is officially winding down.
This week, Monarch legend Justin Verlander announced that he will retire at the end of the 2026 season. In addition, he was selected as a “legend pick” for the All-Star game by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.
Simply put, Verlander is one of the most slam-dunk Hall of Fame careers of all-time. He has thrown 3571.1 innings over 556 games with a 3.33 ERA. He has 266 wins and 26 complete games, including nine shutouts and three no-hitters. He has 3,554 strikeouts, eighth on the all-time list.
Verlander was selected to the All-Star team ten times. He won two World Series rings, three Cy Youngs, a Rookie of the Year award, a Triple Crown and an MVP.
🏈 WE’RE IN THE GAME
The excitement is building for the upcoming football season and plenty of fans will enjoy those moments on the newest edition of EASports College Football 27.
Before the game was released to the public, our Monarchs got a sneak peek of what’s to come and even had some reaction to this year’s individual rankings.
🗓️ ON THE DOCKET
* All Times are Eastern
Saturday, September 5th
🏈 Football vs. Norfolk State @ 6 pm l ESPN+
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🦁 Have a great one, y’all!