Ryan Odom grew up with Virginia basketball, and now, he’s taking on the challenge of bringing the Cavaliers back to the top of college basketball.
“This is the place that I fell in love with basketball,” Odom, the Cavaliers’ new coach, said on Monday during his introduction. “This is the place where I was shaped in so many ways.”
Odom spent a lot of his childhood in Charlottesville while his father, Dave, worked as an assistant coach for Virginia’s Terry Holland from 1982-1989. Odom’s picture appeared on the cover of Holland’s camp one summer, and he even worked as a ballboy for the team.
On Monday, Virginia welcomed Odom with a celebration that included fans, a pep band, and cheerleaders, as they named him the permanent replacement for Tony Bennett. Bennett led the Cavaliers to their only national championship in 2019.
That championship came a year after a huge upset in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, when Odom’s Maryland-Baltimore County team defeated Virginia in the first round, becoming the first 16-seed to beat a 1-seed.
“I feel very prepared to take on what everyone knows is a daunting task, following coach Bennett, following a legend,” Odom said. “I’ll be honest. 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 after Bennett’s sudden retirement three weeks before the season, went 15-17 and was not kept on as head coach.
Though Odom’s ties to Charlottesville helped him, Virginia athletic director Carla Williams made it clear that Odom was chosen for more than just his connections to the area or the fact that he coached for the past two seasons at VCU in Richmond, which is just an hour away.
Williams said that Odom’s strong record as a head coach — with a 221-127 record over 11 years — and his character and ability to adapt made him the right choice for Virginia.
“We trust him with this program,” Williams said. “Which is saying a lot because so many have put so much into this program. We trust Ryan with it.”
Odom led VCU to a 28-7 record this season, winning the Atlantic 10 championship and taking his third school to the NCAA Tournament. He had also taken UMBC and Utah State into March Madness.
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As the NCAA transfer portal opened on Monday, Virginia quickly reached an agreement with the 50-year-old coach from Durham, North Carolina, announcing his hiring on Saturday.
Williams mentioned that Odom’s contract was still being finalized, but did not share any details.
Odom said many of his staff members from VCU would join him at Virginia, including assistants Matt Henry and Bryce Crawford. Odom also hinted that Virginia’s longtime strength and conditioning coach Mike Curtis would stay with the program.
Ryan Odom directs his team in the 1st halfGriff Aldrich, the coach of Longwood and a longtime friend of Odom’s, stepped down from his position on Sunday to become Virginia’s associate head coach.
Walking onto the John Paul Jones Arena court through a tunnel of blue and orange balloons to the AC/DC song “Thunderstruck,” Odom smiled as the crowd cheered, marking the start of his new journey. The excitement helped to overshadow some of the painful memories fans had of Odom’s previous Virginia defeat.
Odom’s UMBC team famously beat Virginia in a 74-54 upset in the 2018 NCAA Tournament.
It’s a topic that Williams and Wally Walker, a member of the search committee that chose Odom, said didn’t come up much during Odom’s interviews.
“It hasn’t left any of our memories,” Walker said. “That was a hell of a coaching job.”
Odom wisely didn’t bring it up during his introduction. Instead, he spoke about his deep connection to the Virginia program.
“I may have babysat him when I was at Virginia,” said Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, who played at Virginia, adding, “It’s a great hire. You look at what he’s done everywhere he’s been, success has followed. And I don’t see this being any different.”
Jim Larrañaga, who retired after 41 seasons as a college head coach, was an assistant at Virginia under Holland. He shared an office with Dave Odom.
“He was always around the gym,” said Larrañaga, whose son Jay became close friends with Odom.
Larrañaga said his memories of Odom as a young boy — riding his bike to University Hall to attend practices after elementary school — were not as clear as his impressions of Odom as a coach in recent years.
In fact, one of Larrañaga’s last losses as a coach was a 77-70 defeat to Odom’s VCU team this season.
“One of my last losses was against VCU,” Larrañaga said. “They beat us. You could tell they had a good team and they’d be very competitive in the A-10.”
Odom, who also served as 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.
It will be difficult for him to shake the fact that most people know him as the coach who led the historic upset over Virginia.
Of course, as Bennett showed, winning a national championship with the Cavaliers can go a long way toward changing how a coach is seen.
