This article first appeared in the fall 2022 Mace & Crown magazine issue.
The Old Dominion football program’s transition into the Sun Belt Conference after joining the league in March 2021 has marked a new era for ODU Athletics. With the switch in conferences, some changes have been made behind the scenes which have sparked local and national interest, such as the welcoming of a furry new member, Hudson, as ODU football’s new unofficial mascot.
When you look around the college football nation, you see many canine mascots. You have mascots like Smokey at the University of Tennessee, Reveille at Texas A&M, Uga X at the University of Georgia, and Tuffy the “Wolf” at N.