Younger Odom charts own path
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Ryan Odom’s father Dave Odom didn’t exactly lay out a red carpet for his son to join him in the college coaching ranks. It isn’t unusual for fathers to give their sons a helping hand by making them one of their assistant coaches. But Dave Odom never hired his son, forcing him to earn whatever breaks he got on his own, something Ryan Odom now cherishes. “We didn’t have that experience together, father and son coaching together,” Ryan Odom was saying Saturday. “But I think it was best for me without a doubt. Your dad knows best. It allowed me to experience basketball and allowed me to experience coaching under other great coaches to gain new experiences and new ideas, new styles, which has helped me in this moment right now for sure.” At this moment, Ryan Odom, 43, finds himself in the middle of the March Madness spotlight after his UMBC Retrievers became the first 16th-seed to beat a No. 1 seed in the history of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night. UMBC dominated top-seeded Virginia, 74-54, to advance to Sunday’s secondround game against ninth-seeded Kansas State. Now Odom’s journey from coach’s son to hot coaching prospect is being featured. The skinny: He was hired to be the UMBC head coach in April 2016 after serving as the head basketball coach at Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.) University from 2015-16. Odom also coached at UNC Charlotte, where he served a stint as the interim head coach in 2015. His father Dave retired in 2008 as the head coach at South Carolina and also coached at Wake Forest. UMBC senior guard Jairus Lyles sees a lot of Dave Odom in Ryan Odom.
“He has a great role model in his dad, who coached at the biggest stage on this level,” Lyle said. “[Ryan] does a great job bringing to us what his dad brought to him.”
Ryan’s biggest task might be bringing his players down from the emotional high of beating the top-ranked team in the tournament.
“We’ve got to encourage our guys to turn the page, and we’ve got to focus here,” he said. “The biggest thing is do you want to be done now or do you want to try to put your best foot forward and continue on? We’re playing an excellent team that easily could dismantle us. We’ve got to do a great job of focusing.”
It might be easier said than done to move past Friday’s upset and turn full attention on the Wildcats when one of the greatest upsets in sports is being played and talked about over and over on television.
“When you see ‘SportsCenter’ talking about other events and comparing the game to other historic events in sports, it’s pretty special,” Odom said. “We certainly understand that. I want our guys to soak that in without a doubt. ... For UMBC to be able to tell its own story now across the world is really, really exciting for me.”
Kansas State coach Bruce Weber summoned the Wildcats together at their hotel after UMBC beat Virginia to remind his team the Retrievers are no pushovers.
“I wanted to make sure they understood the task they had and how good they were,” Weber said. “We’ve got to be ready for them. Plenty is at stake Sunday. “I’m so excited to be able to play for an opportunity to go to the Sweet 16,” Odom said. “That’s mind boggling to me. I’m going to do my best to help coach them and mentor them through this, and hopefully we’ll put our best foot forward and have a chance.”