Missouri’s Odom still has fond memories
While Barry Odom was still defensive coordinator at Memphis, he learned the Tigers had scheduled a game with Missouri for 2018.
He began looking forward to it – a chance to return to his alma mater, where he played and got his first college coaching job.
“I thought I’ll be coaching the Memphis Tigers as their defensive coordinator and playing Missouri,” Odom said this week via phone. “You never know how things turn out.”
On Saturday, Odom still will be on the sidelines with Memphis. Except he’ll be wearing Missouri colors as its head coach.
But looking across the field, he’ll see a school that reminds him of the role he played helping it grow from laughingstock to a program that’s earned national respect.
Odom’s ties with Memphis run deeper than just his three years as defensive coordinator. While a player at Missouri, he played in the last two meetings between the schools as a freshman in 1996 and a senior captain in 1999.
He didn’t hesitate when Justin Fuente approached him to be on his staff after Fuente was hired by Memphis in 2011. They knew the challenge of coming to a team regarded as one of the nation’s worst, but Odom said he embraced being part of a rebuilding and his first chance to be a coordinator.
“It was the ability to go in and take a program that we knew could have success and build it from the ground up,” Odom said. “I was excited to be a part of that."
He also credited athletics director Tom Bowen and interim school president Brad Martin for helping create the atmosphere that Odom thought better helped his players be successful.
In his three years, Memphis went from being 117th in the nation in total defense before his arrival to 51st in 2012, 39th in 2013 and 28th in 2014, when the Tigers won 10 games for the first time since 1938.
He also endeared himself to his players and the staff. Braxton Brady, Memphis’ director of football relations, still has a hand-written card on his desk that Odom wrote him for his 40th birthday.
Odom wrote how much he valued their Thursday morning Bible studies and Brady having a servant’s heart whether it was loading luggage or serving food at a team meal.
“He’s a first-class individual,” Brady said.
Memphis linebacker Jackson Dillon was a sophomore starter during Odom’s last year and still considers him a friend and mentor who helped him early in his career.
It was no surprise that in Odom’s last game at Memphis before becoming Missouri’s defensive coordinator, Dillon had his finest effort as a Tiger with 11 tackles, including two sacks, and a forced fumble in the Miami Beach Bowl.
“He’s just a great passionate guy and a really good man,” Dillon said. “He just makes his players really respect him, and you really want to lay it out for him.”
It’s why Memphis reached out to Odom first after Fuente was hired by Virginia Tech after the 2015 season. Odom interviewed with the Tigers but after two days of negotiating, Memphis broke off talks and eventually decided to hire Mike Norvell.
By coincidence, Odom was introduced as Missouri’s new coach the same day Norvell was at Memphis. Odom declined to speak on the negotiations or whether Memphis offered him the position but said he was honored to be considered for what he called one of the best jobs in the country.
“When you’re faced with making the decision of multiple places, you’ve got to do what you think is right for yourself, your career and your family at that point,” Odom said. “Memphis was then and continues to be a great place.”
Saturday’s game (3 p.m., SEC Network) sees both Odom and Memphis (4-3) searching for a much-needed win. Missouri (3-3) enters on a three-game losing streak, and Memphis is coming off a tough loss to Central Florida.
It also will bring back good memories for Odom. As he continues building his program at Missouri, he sees similar progress at Memphis, and it made him happy how far the Tigers have come since his time there.
“I know what type of athletes and guys that Coach Norvell has recruited, and I’ve got great respect for he and his staff and obviously Mr. Bowen leading the charge,” Odom said. “It’s a lot of good people that represent Memphis the right way.”