Back to the Old Dominion Monarchs Newsfeed

ODU's Wood Selig had a hire to make ... and a dying mom to watch over

Related Topics: Athletic director

There is no more difficult or grueling a task for an athletic director than hiring a head coach, especially in a sport that matters to a goodly portion of your fan base.

It's all the more arduous when your mother is unexpectedly stricken with an illness and then dies.

Few outside the inner circle at Old Dominion knew it, but that's the hardship athletic director Wood Selig faced last month. His mother, Betsey Selig, was rushed to the hospital on May 4. Later that same day Karen Barefoot was named UNC Wilmington's head women's basketball coach.