Memo To The Athletic Department: Hire This Guy

08-09 Basketball Alums NC State Administration NCS Basketball65

Ever wondered why Wake Forest has a better atmosphere than NC State?

Mike Odom has never scored a point for Wake Forest, but when the Deacons play No. 1 Duke tonight, he will be called on to give the team some oomph.

During breaks in the action, Odom will cue up “Zombie Nation” or another high-energy song from his laptop and send it through Joel Coliseum’s sound system. Within seconds, thousands of Wake fans will be whipped into a frenzy that will give the players an added charge.

“Every game is special,” Odom said. “Obviously, Duke is No. 1, and our fans will be excited. We want to keep that excitement when they get here.”

Odom grew up in Raleigh following ACC basketball. While a student at N.C. State, he served as student manager for the basketball team.

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08-09 Basketball Alums NC State Administration NCS Basketball

65 Responses to Memo To The Athletic Department: Hire This Guy

  1. BoKnowsNCS71 01/28/2009 at 8:47 PM #

    Ok so where are out techno heads who can play electronic music? Maybe a little Moby. All are fairly old — I even got to see the Kernkraft 400 play Zombie Nation about 6 or 7 years ago at a night spot in downtown Raleigh long since closed.

    Sure it’s nice to have the band but having a DJ play what the kids like and listen to today vs. the same old “we will Rock you” — jeeez they might as well play “Louis Louis.”

  2. wufpup76 01/28/2009 at 9:12 PM #

    Figured I would move my game posts over here …

    “WOW … James Johnson just stood there and didn’t go get that rebound … I don’t believe it

    I also don’t believe Wake Forest allowed Duke to close like this … Pretty bad decision making down the stretch combined with some awful free throw shooting”

    —

    “I guess Johnson just made up for it …

    Gaudio just pulled K’s pants down … makes me want to laugh”

    —

    “HOLY COW!!!!!

    An actual OVER THE BACK call on everybody’s all america … TWO FOULS on Hansbraughhh in 6 minutes

    That has to be it … no way they call him for another one for the rest of the game”

    Ok … go noles

  3. blackdom 01/28/2009 at 9:14 PM #

    Hire Anthony Grant VCU instead you won’t need the canned music

  4. howlie 01/28/2009 at 9:26 PM #

    I disagree. Stick with the guy that planned the ’83 and ’74 team halftime ‘celebrations.’ ‘Remember when they did that? Yeah, that was awesome. And didn’t disturb my halftime nap at the game.

  5. wufpup76 01/28/2009 at 9:29 PM #

    I don’t believe it … 3 fouls *CALLED* on Ty,Ty,Ty, Tyler in the first half

  6. Alpha Wolf 01/28/2009 at 9:30 PM #

    As soon as the RBC folks started to play stuff like Zombie Nation, there would be a bunch of people logging on here whining about the “loss of our college atmosphere.” We certainly saw that in football the first couple of years after the new scoreboard was put up in CFS (and back when that rattletrap thing had good speakers.)

    Actually, I don’t remember Reynolds ever being a mausoleum like the RBC can be. I’d swear at times that our home atmosphere is like a first or second round NCAA game.

  7. wufpup76 01/28/2009 at 9:32 PM #

    Holes would be in bad shape right now without Davis

  8. wufpup76 01/28/2009 at 9:39 PM #

    Really bad sign that FSU could not extend the lead with Hansbrough out much less keep the lead

  9. BSIE80 01/28/2009 at 9:45 PM #

    FSU is screwing it up.
    They have pretty good size and ability, but just can’t handle success.
    UNC was suppose to walk through the season and win the NCAA. And they should, they have at least 4 NBA players on their roster if not 5. Roy actually sucks and should be fired.
    He has had 2 easy jobs- Kansas/UNC. How did he earn this?
    2 of the best programs that get the best players every year.
    Not much coaching required. It makes me wonder if he had to start at Elon or some small time program, how would he have faired. My guess is not very good.

  10. Daily Update 01/28/2009 at 9:51 PM #

    Does anyone else hate the slow clap/play, then get faster of our fight song to open our games? It is such a weak opening to the game.

  11. BJD95 01/28/2009 at 9:57 PM #

    No, we need “King of the Hill” commercials and cheesy-assed sing-alongs like “Hey Baby.”

    And yes, there is a happy medium between “rock concert” and “nursing home social.” Maybe one day NC State will find it.

  12. Daily Update 01/28/2009 at 10:03 PM #

    I hate the “Hey Baby” thing too. Thankfully my section ignored it this year.

  13. Rusty 01/28/2009 at 10:14 PM #

    Alpha . . . I think you’ve hit on something.

    Watching that game last night, I was appalled at the turnout in RBC. I realize we ain’t got an NCAA record, or an NIT one for that matter. But there ain’t no reason RBC shouldn’t have been packed and rockin last night. Imagine my shock when I got emails today from the university selling tickets to the UNC game. C’MON Y’ALL!!!! I don’t care if we ain’t won a game all year. Carolina is synonymous with the devil himself. Tickets to that game should be harder to come by than a liberal at the Southern Baptist Convention.

    Wolfpack nation is nationally known for filling our stadiums, etc. If we can break records in Alabama, there should be no excuse for not selling out our home arena for a game against THE arch rival.

    Small as though it may be, there was some mo generated Tuesday night, and with the crowd behind them, those boys can pull a Houdini on Roy and Ty on Saturday afternoon. These need to look up and see not one empty seat to do it, though.

    We don’t need fancy songs or scoreboards or techno songs or any of that crap to create a good home atmosphere. All we need is an arena full of screaming red-n-white nuts!

  14. Bubba 01/28/2009 at 10:34 PM #

    Mike Odom is a great guy and bleeds Wolfpack red.Would like to see him back in Raleigh

  15. LRM 01/28/2009 at 11:23 PM #

    Well, I was wrong: apparently there is a non-Wake fan that actually thinks Zombie Nation isn’t the most dreadful crap imaginable at a sporting event.

    You know what else breeds crowd excitement? Winning.

  16. NCSU2WFU 01/29/2009 at 1:21 AM #

    Alright, so I don’t know that I agree with the whole premise of this posting, that “Wake Forest has a better atmosphere than NC State” does. I was at the game tonight and it felt good to knock off Duke and it was loud and fun, but it doesn’t come close to the experience I had on the sidelines at the RBC center (granted, I was in the Wolfpack club and usually with great tickets for 4 decent years, and tonight I was in the nosebleed section, but still). When my current classmates that went to NCSU for undergrad and I discuss this, we all agree that State has Wake beat. Some examples of why this is so:

    1) Seating: At NCSU, students basically surround the court. At WF, they get one endzone. In fact, the other endzone has some seats and then the press box (who are not very intimidating to free throw shooters).
    2) Appearance: A wall of red shirts will always be > the tie dye nation.
    3) Free throws: at WF, everyone puts up one hand, as though they’re hailing something (very Third Reich like), (although, I do think the styrofoam brick is hilarious). At NCSU, I know for a fact that my two parallel arms going straight up helped many a free throw shooter line up and knock ’em down.
    4) Other stuff: So both schools have NBA-like player introductions, and electronic scoreboards with decent video replays, etc. But tonight I may have heard one or two “Wake… Forest!” cheers. At NCSU vs Duke or UNC games, it seemed that every 3 or 4 minutes we were yelling out “WOLF…. PACK” or “RED/WHITE”, or that the band was running all over the court (with whatever that cheer is where they start out with trumpets and then we break into the song). We’re just louder and more passionate in Raleigh. And honestly, the only sporting event that Zombie Nation should have a part of is European Soccer…

    Don’t get me wrong, Wake does some things well and I suppose it works for them, but I wouldn’t knock what we have in Raleigh, and no one I know would agree and say that “Wake has a better atmosphere than NCSU”. (And don’t even bring up about football….)

  17. Par Shooter 01/29/2009 at 8:13 AM #

    I haven’t ever really wondered why WF has a better atmoshpere. I think it’s pretty obvious that having a top 10 team with some regularity makes a difference. Where Wake sits right now tops anything we’ve done in…at least 25 years. I’m not sure we were ever ranked #1, even briefly, in ’83 either. Would we have to go back to ’75 for a #1 regular season ranking?

    I think getting to cheer teams led by guys like Tim Duncan, Chris Paul and Jeff Teague makes a lot more impact than the type of canned music played. With the complete disarray in our bball program, complaining about the music played at games is good stuff.

  18. thebigwood 01/29/2009 at 8:46 AM #

    Are any of y’all reading about this stuff going on with Gary Williams and his AD? Seems pretty contentious and there are rumors he’s leaving after this season…

    I just hope MD doesn’t hire a great new coach…

  19. crackdog 01/29/2009 at 8:53 AM #

    I went to elementary through high school with Mike Odom. Great guy. But “Zombie Nation” and other canned musical junk fills in time that the band would otherwise play in, and I can’t stand it. Just look at our crowd’s reaction to the filler junk that RBC uses. Would upping the tempo of that canned music change things? I doubt it.

  20. Noah 01/29/2009 at 9:09 AM #

    Kraftwerk is still touring? Wow. Are they playing one of those nostalgia bills with Stereolab and Gary Numan?

  21. newt 01/29/2009 at 9:19 AM #

    You all have selective memories of Reynolds, and like an insecure boy in the lockeroom, you’re overestimating the atmosphere at other schools.

    Last night was #4 Wake against #1 Duke, so that was the best atmosphere you will see at Wake. It wasn’t Miami.

    I distinctly remember walking to Reynolds as a freshman college student in ’87, showing my ID, and strolling in to see my first ACC game, Georgia Tech. I had room around me and was able to converse with my roommate without raising my voice at times. Same with Clemson later that season. I couple of years later, I wondered over to the Wake game and watched Rodney Rodgers do his awesome 360 slam. I had a student ticket but had walked upstairs and was sitting in the center.

    I’ve also attended Duke/Carolina at Cameron on Senior day, so I’ve seen the best Cameron has to offer. Even at that game, there were plenty of times when I could converse with my neighbor in a normal tone, and the upper deck at Cameron never stands up. The students chant something most of the time.

    That’s not to say the atmosphere can’t be better in the RBC. A great team and highly ranked opponent helps, and the fact is we’ve lost some tradition because of the down years we’ve had.

    But, the foundation is there. At least the students circle the court. I wish they were closer though. And the RBC can be loud when it’s full and all are cheering. The Canes Stanley Cup run and the occasional UNC basketball upset have proven that.

  22. Alpha Wolf 01/29/2009 at 9:45 AM #

    Kraftwerk is still touring? Wow. Are they playing one of those nostalgia bills with Stereolab and Gary Numan?

    They have has some pretty major personnel changes, but they are on the South American part of the Radiohead tour and they will be in Germany this year too. It’s not really surprising, they have been active since 1970, and predate the likes of Stereolab and Gary Numan by decades.

    Let’s put it this way: I had the albums “Autobahn” and “Radio-Aktivität” in 1975. Still do, as a matter of fact. Both are the most nascent form of techno-electronica, a genre that I trace to Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” and the song “On the Run.”

  23. SEAT.5.F.2 01/29/2009 at 9:47 AM #

    Tie Dyed Techo crap that would get so old if you were an easy going 30 something smooth dude like myself. It looks like WASP over acheivers meets “smells like teen spirit” to me and you felt slightly embarrased for them until they landed a top five recruiting class the year after Johnson and Teague came aboard.

  24. blackdom 01/29/2009 at 9:59 AM #

    Wake also has like 25,0000 less students than we do.

  25. frankiepack 01/29/2009 at 10:01 AM #

    Can this Mike Odum coach? If he can bring him on.

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