The fanfare swells as the camera fixes on the college football coach sitting behind his desk, coffee mug in his hand, amused look on his face. "Breakfast with Bobby, Episode 4" is rolling on a Virginia newspaper's Web site.

There's a brief breakdown of Old Dominion University's one-point upset of Jacksonville University last Saturday and a mention of Monmouth College, the next opponent. The 12th Monarch T-shirt worn by the coach is noted and that's when Bobby Wilder's electric smile turns on.

"Be loud and proud, Monarch Nation," says Wilder. As the video's host closes out the clip, Wilder mugs in the background, mouthing the words again: Loud and proud.

Sitting at their computers, thousands of citizens of Wilder's Monarch Nation must be eating this up. Returning to the Old Dominion campus after a 68-year hiatus, the football team has won its first three games. Renovated Foreman Field at S.B. Ballard Stadium sells out its 20,000-some seats, including 500 students who camped out overnight to snap up the final tickets to the first game.

The noise is so loud, Wilder has credited fans for many of the 15 penalties called on Chawon University and Virginia Union in the two home games. The noise was so loud when Old Dominion ran onto the field for its first game and after it won, Wilder doesn't know if his feet touched the ground.

He is the All-American boy from the small Somerset County mill town of Madison, who invested some 20 years at the University of Maine as quarterback and associate head coach. He left after the 2006 season, embittered by the lack of appreciation and support from the school's administration.

Wilder was hired in February 2007 to bring ODU's football program back to life. Every appearance on campus was greeted with a cheer, or certainly handshakes and a smile. "It's because I haven't lost a game yet," said Wilder at the time.

He still hasn't lost. Not too long ago, Wilder turned to his staff and players. "All of us are living the dream."

Thirty months ago there was no schedule, no staff and no helmets. Now there's an undefeated football program. On the team's first trip to Jacksonville, Wilder counted 15 players who had never flown.

"The university chartered the plane and put us up in a nice hotel. I can't tell you what that meant to the players. They were excited but I kept telling them: We're on a 35-hour business trip."

Jacksonville University, much like Patriot League schools in the Northeast, doesn't give out athletic scholarships.

The Dolphins won the Pioneer League championship last season and hadn't lost at home in two years.

Hostile crowd, quality opponent, heat that reached 113 degrees on the field. Wilder looked at his players, who really were untested.

He had recruited some 20- and 21-year-olds from junior colleges to lead the many 18- and 19-year-olds on the roster. They were bonding but still lacked the identity that can only come from experience.

They learned about adversity in that Florida furnace and won the game. They learned they could lean on each other and come from behind.

Ask Wilder if 30 months ago he could have imagined the mini-win streak, the unbridled enthusiasm on campus and in the Hampton Roads community, and he doesn't talk about pinch-me moments.

"I've prepared for this moment for 20 years. I talked to successful head coaches. Because I didn't have to prepare for a next season (for two years) I did over 300 speaking engagements. I shared with people what we wanted to accomplish. I tried to make them feel they were a part of this."

They are the people he sees in the grandstands at Foreman Field. They are the people he sees when he walks the hallways of power on campus, where support and commitment are real. He is feeling something he could never feel at Maine. The university is in his rear-view mirror. He doesn't check it much.

Wilder and his players understand...