A new chapter in Virginia basketball has officially begun.
On Saturday, March 22, the UVA athletic department announced the hire of Ryan Odom as the new coach of the men’s program. The decision came only two days after Odom’s former team, VCU, was eliminated from the NCAA tournament and less than two weeks after it was announced that interim head coach Ron Sanchez would not be retained. For Odom, basketball runs in the family: his father Dave led a four-decade coaching career across the high school and collegiate levels. Seven of those years were spent in Charlottesville as an assistant under Terry Holland, and he most notably was at the helm of Wake Forest during their seven consecutive tournament appearances in the 1990s.
The new hire’s coaching career also dates back to the 1990s. Odom spent several years as an assistant at programs including Furman, UNC Asheville, and Virginia Tech. After a stint as an assistant at Charlotte, he was promoted to interim head coach midseason in 2015. The following year, he would receive his first official head coaching gig at Lenoir–Rhyne. In his first season there, he led the team to a Division II Sweet 16 appearance. He made the leap to Division I the following season, taking over the UMBC program. With the Terriers, Odom rose to national fame when his program became the first 16-seed to beat a 1-seed during March Madness 2018 (defeating none other than the Virginia Cavaliers). In 2021, he left UMBC to take over at Utah State, earning an NIT berth in his first year there and an NCAA tournament appearance in his second. In 2023, he returned to the East Coast and signed with VCU, where they earned a tournament berth this year as an 11-seed. In ten full seasons as a collegiate head coach, Odom has led his programs to nine winning seasons, four postseason berths, and a cumulative record of 214–116.
When Bennett announced his retirement, Odom’s name quickly rose to the top of the list of candidates. St. John’s Rick Pitino and Marquette’s Shaka Smart, both of whom have a more cemented legacy in the college basketball landscape, had also been floated as possible prospects for the opening. Given his lack of experience in a Power Five conference, the hire has its risks—however, as mentioned above, Odom has had success at every level of basketball he has coached at so far, and his resume is well-deserving of a major program. On Monday, he announced that Griff Aldrich would be joining him on his staff as an assistant. Aldrich had coached at Longwood since 2018, leading the program to two Big South conference championships while there. He has also expressed his intentions to hire a general manager for the program, an indication that the program could be well-adapted to the changing landscape of NIL in college sports.
Alongside the hire comes the re-commitment of 4-star prospect Chance Mallory. A flashy, 5’9” guard, the Charlottesville native had originally signed with the Cavaliers in October, but rescinded his decision in the aftermath of coach Tony Bennett’s retirement. Despite considering other programs such as Tennessee and Maryland, Mallory ultimately decided to stay close to home. He attested that the announcement of the coaching hire played a factor in his decision.
However, alongside the hire comes collateral damage; with the transfer portal opening on Monday, several staples of the 2024-25 roster have expressed their intentions of leaving Charlottesville: most notably, facilitator Andrew Rodhe and sharpshooter Isaac McKneely. Following the end of the season, they were joined by Dai Dai Ames and Blake Buchanan, both of whom received considerable minutes as well. With nine total transfers, including five of the six top scorers last year departing, Odom is left with a tattered roster, but also a chance to construct his own unique legacy. It is yet to be seen how many players from VCU will follow him to Charlottesville and what kind of splash he will make in the basketball landscape, but excitement awaits for how the successful coach will take advantage of the new resources and position.
Odom has big shoes to fill; he has been assigned the difficult task of satisfying a city that has become familiar with, and even used to, success in basketball over the last decade-and-a-half. John Paul Jones Arena will look much different next year, as he will inevitably introduce his own play style alongside the new batch of players that will be suiting up for the Cavaliers. In the end, only time will tell if Odom can establish his own legacy in Charlottesville, but there is a general sense of optimism abuzz as the program heads into this new chapter.
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