In 2018, Ryan Odom made history by leading UMBC to the first-ever No. 16 upset against a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, with Virginia being that No. 1 team.
Now, Odom has been named the head coach of the Cavaliers, following the official announcement made on Saturday. According to ESPN, he has signed a six-year contract and was also considered for the head coaching position at Villanova.
At 50 years old, Odom has spent the previous two seasons at VCU, where he achieved a 52-21 record and guided the Rams to the 2025 NCAA Tournament, though they were eliminated in the first round by BYU. Under his leadership, VCU claimed the 2025 Atlantic-10 Tournament title and shared the regular-season championship.
This marks Odom’s fifth role as a collegiate head coach. Over the past decade, he has accumulated a career record of 222-127, including stints at Utah State (2021-2023), UMBC (2017-2021), Lenoir-Rhyne (2016), and Charlotte (2015, as interim head coach). Similar to his experience at VCU, he also took teams at Utah State and UMBC to the NCAA Tournament in their second seasons.
Odom’s return to Virginia is somewhat of a homecoming. He spent part of his childhood in Charlottesville from third to tenth grade while his father, Dave Odom, was an assistant basketball coach on Terry Holland’s staff from 1982 to 1989. Odom attended practices at University Hall, often biking there, and served as a ball boy for the Cavaliers’ home games.
Odom’s coaching journey has yet another link to UVA. His initial role was as an administrative assistant at South Florida, working under head coach Seth Greenberg. Greenberg, who once served as an assistant at Virginia, also coached alongside Terry Holland. When Greenberg first moved to Charlottesville, he briefly stayed at the Odom family’s home. Later on, Odom joined Greenberg’s coaching staff at Virginia Tech from 2004 to 2010.
In his first season at VCU, Odom led the Rams to a 24-14 record and a trip to the Atlantic 10 championship game. The team made a strong postseason run, earning road victories over Villanova and South Florida on their way to the NIT quarterfinals. This year, VCU finished with a 28-7 record and was highlighted by the A-10 Player of the Year and the conference tournament MVP.
Odom took over the VCU program after spending two successful seasons at Utah State, where he compiled a 44-25 record. In the 2022-23 season, he led the Aggies to a 26-9 record and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament’s first round, with the team ranking 16th nationally for offense that year.
In his debut season at Utah State, Odom guided the team to an 18-16 overall record, securing an at-large bid to the NIT.
Similar to his experiences at VCU and Utah State, Odom made an immediate impact at UMBC during his first season in 2016-17. He helped the team achieve a 14-win improvement from the previous year. Before his arrival, UMBC had suffered eight straight losing seasons and had not reached double-digit wins for seven consecutive years.
Under Odom’s leadership, the Retrievers had three consecutive seasons with 20 or more wins, including a school-record 25 victories in 2017-18. His 2016-17 team reached the semifinals of the CollegeBasketballInsider.com (CIT), making history as the first America East team to win three games in a postseason. At the end of that season, Odom earned the 2017 Joe B. Hall Award, which honors the top first-year coach in Division I.
During his five seasons at UMBC, Odom’s teams recorded a 97-60 record and won the 2018 America East Tournament Championship, along with the 2021 regular-season title. For his accomplishments, he was named the 2021 America East Conference Coach of the Year and the NABC District 1 Coach of the Year.
In the 2015-16 season at Division II Lenoir-Rhyne, Odom led the Bears to a 21-10 record, a 13-win improvement, and the school’s first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance. The Bears excelled that season, leading the nation in three-point field goals made per game (12.4) and finishing ninth in scoring at 90.1 points per game.
Odom was also an assistant coach at Charlotte for five years (2011-15), during which he served as interim head coach for the last 19 games of the 2014-15 season. In 2013, he helped Charlotte secure a spot in the postseason NIT.
Before his time at Charlotte, Odom spent seven years (2004-10) on the Virginia Tech coaching staff, contributing to a Hokies team that made it to the NCAA Tournament in 2007 and won against Illinois in the first round.
His coaching journey began as an assistant coach at American for three years (2001-03), followed by one season at UNC Asheville (2000), and two years at Furman (1998-99). Odom also served as an administrative assistant at South Florida for one season (1997).
He graduated from Hampden-Sydney in 1996 with a degree in economics and was a four-year starting point guard on the men’s basketball team. Odom was team captain in his senior year and helped lead the team to an 80-30 record, including two NCAA Division III Tournament appearances. He finished as the school’s all-time leader in three-pointers made and ranked fourth in assists.
Ryan Odom is the son of Dave Odom, who retired in 2008 as the head coach at South Carolina. The elder Odom received SEC Coach of the Year accolades during his time with South Carolina in 2004 and was named ACC Coach of the Year in 1991, 1994, and 1995 while at Wake Forest.
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