Cowboys pitted against familiar name
STILLWATER — For the second straight year, Oklahoma State’s bowl opponent is led by an Oklahoma-born coaching talent.
The Cowboys are headed to the Liberty Bowl where they’ll face former Big 12 rival Missouri at 2:45 p.m. on Dec. 31 in Memphis, Tennessee.
The Tigers are coached by former Ada football star Barry Odom, who comes from a family OSU’s Mike Gundy knows well.
After all, he recruited Odom’s nephew, Baron, to Stillwater, where he is a redshirt freshman Cowboy back. But Gundy has only gotten to know Barry Odom from a distance.
“He’s done a lot of things and worked his way up,” Gundy said. “I’ve heard great things about him. He’s not gonna get to the point he is as the head coach at Missouri without doing things the right way.
“They’ve done very well, and it’s obvious in their season.”
Last year, it was Tulsa native Justin Fuente at Virginia Tech — who,
oddly enough, had Barry Odom as his defensive coordinator at Memphis from 2012-14 — as the Cowboys’ opponent in the Camping World Bowl. And just as with Fuente’s staff, the coaching ties run deep between OSU and Missouri.
The last time the teams met, in the Cotton Bowl following the 2013 season, OSU offensive line coach Josh Henson was Missouri’s offensive coordinator under Gary Pinkel. Henson joined the Cowboys as an analyst in 2016.
Barry Odom’s brother, Brian, coaches outside linebackers for the Tigers. Former OU players Joe Jon Finley (tight ends), Brad Davis (offensive line) and Garrick McGee (offensive analyst) are also on the staff.
Gundy and Odom didn’t coach against each other until 2009, when Missouri promoted Odom from director of football operations to safeties coach.
Odom became Memphis defensive coordinator in 2012.
Conference opponents for decades, this will be the 53rd meeting between OSU and Missouri. OSU won the last three inconference meetings, and Missouri took the Cotton Bowl in January 2014. Overall, Missouri leads the series 29-23, though OSU has won 21 of the last 35.
For this meeting, though, the Odom family will have a decision to make.
“Baron has done a great job so far in their program,” Barry Odom said of his nephew, the son of the oldest Odom brother, Brad. “We’ll see where the family ties lie as we get closer to the game. We’ll see how important I am on the list and where that stacks up with everybody involved.”