Odom referrals Virginia roots in launching as coach
Mar 24, 2025, 07:29 PM ET
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.– Ryan Odom was raised on Virginia basketball. Now, he’s being tasked with raising the Cavaliers back amongst the nationwide elite.
“This is the location that I fell in love with basketball,” the Cavaliers’ brand-new coach said Monday during his introductory press conference. “This is the location where I was shaped in numerous methods.”
Odom invested a great part of his youth in Charlottesville while his dad, Dave, worked as an assistant for Virginia’s Terry Holland from 1982 to 89. Odom even functioned as a ball young boy for the team.On Monday, in a homecoming celebration replete with fans, the pep band and cheerleaders, Virginia introduced Odom as the long-term replacement for Tony Bennett, who led the program to its only championship game, in 2019.
That title came a year after among the most stunning upsets in college basketball history. Odom’s Maryland-Baltimore County group beat Virginia in the preliminary of the 2018 NCAA tournament, becoming the first 16-seed to beat a 1-seed.
“I feel very prepared to take on what everybody knows is a daunting job, following Coach Bennett, following a legend,” Odom stated. “I’ll be truthful. I’m at peace with that. I’m not afraid of it. I wouldn’t be standing here if I was afraid of it.”
Ron Sanchez, Virginia’s interim coach this year after Bennett’s surprise retirement three weeks before the season, went 15-17 and was not retained.Though Odom’s connection to Charlottesville certainly helped him as a prospect, Virginia athletic director Carla Williams made it clear that Odom wasn’t simply the choice due to the fact that of that, or the reality that, for the previous 2 seasons, he has been training an hour’s drive away at VCU in Richmond.Williams said Odom’s proven performance history as a head coach– he’s 221-127 over 11 years– combined with his character and flexibility, made him the ideal fit for the Cavaliers.”We trust him with this program, “Williams said.”Which is stating a lot because so
numerous have put so much into this program. We trust Ryan with it. “Odom led VCU to a 28-7 mark this season, winning the Atlantic 10 champion and taking his third school to the NCAA tournament. He had previously guided UMBC and Utah State into the March Madness field.The Rams’season ended Thursday with a first-round loss to BYU.With the NCAA transfer website opening Monday, Virginia squandered no time at all in reaching an
contract with the 50-year-old Durham, North Carolina, native, revealing
his working with Saturday.Williams said Odom’s contract is still being completed and she decreased to reveal details.Odom stated much of his personnel at VCU would join him at Virginia, a group that consists of assistants Matt Henry and Bryce Crawford. Odom suggested that longtime Virginia strength and conditioning coach Mike Curtis would stay with the program.Longwood coach Griff Aldrich, a long time pal of Odom’s, stepped down from his position with the Lancers on Sunday and will be Virginia’s associate head coach.Walking out onto the John Paul Jones Arena court, through a tunnel of blue and orange balloons to the AC/DC anthem”
Thunderstruck,” Odom smiled as the crowd cheered, this new beginning surpassing some of the painful Virginia loss many fans associate Odom with.Odom’s loose, confident UMBC team overwhelmed Bennett’s methodical Virginia team in a 74-54 March Madness shocker.It’s a topic Williams and Wally Walker– a member of the search committee that chose Odom– said didn’t come up much throughout Odom’s job interviews. “It hasn’t left any of our memories, “Walker stated.”That was a hell of a training job. “Odom, sensibly, did not mention it in his introductory remarks.Instead, he talked at length about his deep connection to the
Virginia program.Jim Larrañaga, who retired this previous season after 41 seasons as a college head coach, was an assistant on the Virginia staff under Holland. He shared a workplace with Dave Odom.”He was always around the gym,” said Larrañaga, whose son Jay became childhood friends with Odom.Larrañaga said his memories of the young Odom– who would ride his bicycle to
University Hall when elementary school let out to go to practices– aren’t as
brilliant as his impressions of Odom as a coach in recent years.In reality, a 77-70 loss to Odom’s VCU squad was one of the 12 games Larrañaga coached this season for Miami before retiring.
“One of my last losses protested VCU, “Larrañaga stated.”They beat us. You might inform they had a great group and they ‘d be extremely competitive in the A-10.” Odom, who also acted as the interim coach at Charlotte for 19 games in 2015 and spent a year at Division II Lenoir-Rhyne in 2015-16, has won over 20 games in six of his nine full seasons as a Division I coach.He’ll be tough pressed to change the fact that most of the country knows him as the coach who traditionally upset Virginia.Of course, as Bennett showed, winning a championship game with the Cavaliers can go a long method towards changing how a coach is perceived.