The new UVA Basketball coach introduced himself to the fanbase that learned to go crazy for shot-clock violations with three words they hadn’t heard in succession in 16 years.
“I love offense,” Ryan Odom said Monday at his introductory press conference, which was held, awkwardly, in front of an audience of nearly 400, including Virginia Athletics Foundation donors, UVA Basketball alums and fans.
Notably, the heavens didn’t part as he spoke; Odom, tempting fate, was not struck by a bolt of lightning from on high.
He was inviting it, though, quite clearly, speaking sacrilege about offense in the House of the Patron Saint of the Pack Line.
“We certainly want to play fast in transition, and we want our guys to get out and run,” said Odom, really digging a hole for himself at this point.
Seriously, this Ryan Odom guy loves offense, and he wants to play fast?
No way this will work here.
ICYMI
Credit to Odom, who grew up in the UVA Basketball program – his father, Dave Odom, was an assistant coach on the staff of Terry Holland from 1982-1989, and was the one-time heir apparent to Holland, before a stubborn AD got in the way of the succession plan – for wanting to give it the ol’ college try.
Odom emerged as a top candidate for the UVA job back in December, and was among five finalists presented by a search committee that worked for five months to find a full-time replacement for Tony Bennett, who stepped down in October after 15 seasons, a 364-136 record, six ACC regular-season titles, two ACC Tournament titles and the 2019 national title.
Bennett was one of the few UVA Basketball dignitaries not in the house for the rollout for Odom, who is a week and a day from cutting down the nets with his VCU team that won the A-10 Tournament.
Bennett’s most memorable loss, as we all know, and I hate to even bring it up, came at the hands of Odom, then at UMBC, a 16 seed that upset Bennett’s top-seeded Virginia team in the 2018 NCAA Tournament.
ICYMI
The topic of 2018 didn’t come up during the 53-minute presser with the friendly UVA media filling up the 20 seats on the floor to Odom’s left, though you can be sure it will come up with regional and national media and on TV broadcasts of Virginia games next season.
Odom, 50, was 97-60 in five seasons at UMBC, before a two-year stint at Utah State that included a 26-9 record and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2023, and a two-year stint at VCU that saw him lead the Rams to the NCAA Tournament this past season with a 28-7 record.
He’s not overselling the “want to play fast” aspect – his last five teams have averaged between 65.6 and 68.6 possessions per game, according to data from KenPom.com; for comparison, the last five Virginia teams, under Bennett and interim coach Ron Sanchez, this past season, averaged between 59.5 and 61.5 possessions per game.
The “I love offense” line, also, not oversold – his last five teams have averaged between 69.5 and 78.2 points per game; the last five Virginia teams have averaged between 62.4 and 68.2 points per game.
Odom hitting his selling points seemed like a recruiting pitch aimed first and foremost at the group seated on the floor to Odom’s left – the 2024-2025 UVA roster, which he put through a workout ahead of the mid-afternoon press conference with Virginia assistant Isaiah Wilkins, staffers Kyle Guy and Chase Coleman and strength and conditioning coach Mike Curtis.
Six of the players, including five rotation guys, have already put their names in the transfer portal – guards Dai Dai Ames, Isaac McKneely and Andrew Rohde, and forwards Blake Buchanan, TJ Power and Anthony Robinson.
ICYMI
Odom indicated that he’ll be meeting one-on-one with the current roster over the next week, and one thing he said he’s already told the holdovers is “there’s no judgment if you put your name in the portal.”
“Because this situation is what it is, they have to figure out what’s best for them,” Odom said. “And we have to figure out, obviously they understand we have to figure out what’s best for UVA and this program going forward. But my job is to communicate and find out, why did you choose Virginia? What do you like about this place? Ultimately, we’ll have to come to a decision, do they want to stay, do they want to find another situation? Either way, there are no hard feelings.”
Those meetings, oriented toward retention, are a key area of focus for Odom.
“That’s why I’m so excited about these guys right here, because I know they’ve been taught the right way. This culture here is strong,” Odom said. “So, retention, we would not have been able to do what we did at VCU or at Utah State if we weren’t able to retain our players. Then you fill in with the transfer portal. Some years, it’s going to be a big change. It just is what it is.”
A second area of focus is putting together a staff, a process that has already begun with Odom naming Griff Aldrich, most recently the head coach at Longwood, as his associate head coach.
ICYMI
During the presser, he also gave shout-outs to VCU assistant Darius Theus and staffers Bradford Burgess and Ahmad Thomas.
“I’ve been fortunate to be at some great programs and with some great people. I’m excited about this opportunity here to do the same,” Odom said. “It’s going to be a challenge. There’s going to be good days. There’s going to be bad days. So, the people that you do it with are so important, and that’s really what it comes down to.
“All the successful organizations that are out there, the one common thread is the people,” Odom said. “The people are connected. The people are smart. The people look after one another, and the people are competitive. They’re not afraid to think outside the box at times and make tough decisions. Certainly, I know that I’m going to have to make some tough ones here no differently than I have at other places.”
The big decision that he made in the past three weeks, deciding to take the Virginia job, wasn’t a tough one.
Odom grew up in the UVA Basketball program, was literally the poster boy for Coach Holland’s summer camp brochure as a 13-year-old.
From summer camps with one UVA Basketball legend to replacing another, with three decades as a player, assistant and head coach in between, Odom feels “very prepared to take on what everyone knows is a daunting task, following Coach Bennett, following a legend.”
“I’ll be honest, I’m at peace with that,” Odom said. “I’m not afraid of it. I wouldn’t be standing here if I was afraid of it. I’m excited about it, and I’m going to need him, quite honestly.
“I called him the other day, and we had a great conversation,” Odom said. “He’s very happy right now. He said to me, he said, Yeah, we were watching your game against BYU the other night, and I asked Laurel, I said, do I have more gray hair than him? And Laurel said, yes, you do. And he said, You just wait, you just wait until he gets in that chair, and he’s right, it’s coming.
“But I’m not afraid of the pressure. I’m not afraid of that,” Odom said. “As a coach and a competitor, that’s where you want to be. You want to be right in it. You want to be able to stand toe-to-toe with whoever you’re going against and do your best, and there’s no question that we’re going to do that here.”
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Chris Graham
