Ryan Odom
Introduction
Ryan Odom (born July 11, 1974) is an American men's college basketball coach who is currently the head coach of the UMBC Retrievers men's basketball team. He was previously the head coach of the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears. Odom served as the interim head coach of the Charlotte 49ers men's basketball team from January 6 until March 15, 2015. In this capacity, he replaced Alan Major when Major went on a medical leave of absence to deal with chronic health issues.
Playing career
Odom was a four-year starter at Hampden-Sydney, serving as team captain his senior year. He left the Tigers ranking the school's all-time leader in three-point field goals, and fourth in assists.
Coaching career
Odom began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at South Florida. He also had stops as an assistant coach with Furman, UNC Asheville, and American, before spending seven years on Seth Greenberg's staff at Virginia Tech. In 2010, he joined the coaching staff of Charlotte, serving as an assistant for five years, including being interim head coach. Odom was relieved of his coaching duties on March 16, 2015 when Major and the university mutually agreed to part ways, and his staff was not retained. Odom compiled an overall record of 8-11 as Charlotte's interim coach.
After Charlotte, Odom accepted the job at Lenoir-Rhyne, leading the Bears to the Quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II tournament in his only season at the helm, before accepting the head coaching position at Division I UMBC, replacing Aki Thomas.
In his first season at the helm of the Retrievers, Odom orchestrated a 14-win improvement over the team's 7–25 season the previous year to a 21–13 overall record, and fifth place finish in the America East Conference. The 21 wins are second-most in school history. For its efforts, UMBC accepted a bid to the 2017 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament, where it won its first round matchup against Fairfield for the first postseason win in program history, and defeated St. Francis (PA) to advance to the CIT quarterfinals before falling to Texas A&M–Corpus Christi in the semifinals.
Personal
Odom is the son of former East Carolina, Wake Forest, and South Carolina head coach Dave Odom.
Head coaching record
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte (Conference USA) (2014–2015) | |||||||||
| 2014–15* | Charlotte* | 8–11* | 7–11* | 11th* | |||||
| Charlotte: | 8–11 (.421) | 7–11 (.389) | |||||||
| Lenoir-Rhyne (South Atlantic Conference) (2015–present) | |||||||||
| 2015–16 | Lenoir-Rhyne | 21–10 | 14–8 | 4th | NCAA Division II Quarterfinals | ||||
| Lenoir-Rhyne: | 21–10 (.677) | 14–8 (.636) | |||||||
| UMBC (America East Conference) (2016–present) | |||||||||
| 2016–17 | UMBC | 21–13 | 9–7 | 5th | CIT Semifinals | ||||
| UMBC: | 21–13 (.618) | 9–7 (.563) | |||||||
| Total: | 50–34 (.595) | ||||||||
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National champion Postseason invitational champion |
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*Charlotte Head Coach Alan Major took an indefinite leave of absence due to medical reasons on January 6, 2015. Charlotte's record at the time was 6–7 (0–1 C-USA).