Odom will be presented publicly in a press conference set for Friday, Dec. 4 at 12 p.m. If current defensive coordinator Barry Odom is the No. 1 selection or Calif. coach Sonny Dykes, there’d be no hold up in hanging a deal, still there is incentive to maintain things quiet if a coach desires to keep away from a championship-week distraction.
Advertisement
For more on Odom and the announcement, see the official release here. “Coach Odom was the clear choice to serve as our next coach”.
Odom said he was “tremendously honored to have this opportunity”, and that the school “means the world to me and to my family”.
Missouri’s coaching search picked up in earnest following the season-ending loss to Arkansas on November 27th. In his a year ago at Memphis, the Tigers ranked 11th in scoring defense; in his first season back in Columbia, Missouri ranked seventh.
Hiring from within, Missouri announced Thursday that defensive coordinator Barry Odom will replace the retiring Gary Pinkel as head coach. “I can’t wait to get started”. Neither does the timing: Odom was being considered for the Memphis head coaching job after Justin Fuente was hired away by Virginia Tech. Odom was a linebacker with the Tigers from 1996-1999, and ranks 7th all time in tackles and was a team captain his final season. He began his college coaching career as a Missouri graduate assistant before moving up to other positions with the program.
Odom will have some tough shoes to fill in Gary Pinkel, who suddenly retired after this season.
From 2006-08, Odom helped run Pinkel’s program administratively as his director of operations.
Advertisement
Odom spent one year as Missouri’s defensive coordinator.
