New men’s basketball head coach Ryan Odom will have his work cut out for him building a roster this offseason.
On Monday, Odom conducted his first press conference as the head coach of Virginia men’s basketball. The former VCU head coach has a long history with the Virginia program. As a child, his father Dave Odom worked as an assistant coach for the legendary Terry Holland from 1982 to 89. He spent these years growing up in Charlottesville, just minutes away from Grounds. Odom was even a ball boy for the eighties team.
“This place is so special and been so special to me…This is the place where I was shaped in so many ways,” Odom said in the press conference. “This is the place that I fell in love with basketball.”
As an adult, Odom also coached the 16-seeded UMBC team that won a historic victory over the 1-seeded Hoos in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament. It was the first time in the history of the tournament that a 16 seed had advanced to the second round, and it was a shocking defeat that Cavalier fans will never forget. Odom refrained from mentioning this connection to UVA in his opening conference.
Now, he’s taken hold of the reins of a program battered by almost six months of turbulence. In October, longtime head coach Tony Bennett suddenly announced that he was stepping away from Virginia basketball, and his close assistant Ron Sanchez was promoted to interim head coach. A disappointing season followed. The team finished 15-17 and 9th in the ACC, missing both the NCAA and NIT tournaments.
On Monday, March 24, the transfer portal opened for the offseason, and as of Friday, seven Virginia players have entered the transfer portal, including Isaac McKneely and almost every other regular starter.
On March 18, days before the portal opened, second-year center Blake Buchanan announced that he’d be entering the transfer portal when it opened. The next day, second-year guard Dai Dai Ames announced the same.
On March 24, the portal opened, and four more players entered, including star third-year guard Isaac McKneely, third-year guard Andrew Rohde, first-year center Anthony Robinson, and second-year forward TJ Power. On Tuesday, first-year forward Jacob Cofie also entered the portal. On Thursday, first-year guard Ishan Sharma and redshirt freshman Christian Bliss, who didn’t play this season due to a foot injury, entered the portal as well. McKneely reportedly has a “do not contact” tag in the portal, meaning he has selected which programs he is reaching out to, and does not want any other coaches contacting him. As of Friday, only one player averaging more than 1 minute per game in the 2024-25 season remains: Elijah Saunders.
The transfer portal has radically changed the landscape of college sports in the last several years. In the past, if an athlete transferred schools, they would be required to sit out for a year at their new school. However, in April 2021, the NCAA changed the transfer rules, allowing athletes to transfer once during their college careers while retaining immediate eligibility—they don’t have to sit out. In 2024, the transfer limit was eliminated, allowing athletes to transfer multiple times without penalty. At the same time, the NCAA introduced new rules allowing college athletes to make money off of their name, image, and likeness. As these rule changes have been implemented, use of the transfer portal has skyrocketed. The number of Division 1 student-athletes transferring schools via the portal jumped 75% between 2021 and 2023.
When Tony Bennett retired last fall, he told the public he didn’t feel equipped to coach in this changing era of college basketball. He called himself “a square peg in a round hole” who “[isn’t] the right guy for the job.” Although he believes athletes should be getting paid, Bennett said in his retirement press conference that “the game and college athletics are not in a healthy spot,” and that “there needs to be change.” Coaching a basketball team in this era was overwhelming for Bennett, and moments like this show why. He’s not alone either. Last season, Alabama Crimson Tide legend and titan of college sports Nick Saban announced his retirement, citing similar frustrations about the effects that the NIL and transfer rules were having. In December, Jim Larrañaga, the all-time winningest head coach of the Miami Hurricanes, suddenly retired midseason, also citing the difficulties of the current era of college basketball. In 2023, right after going to the Final Four, Larrañaga had eight players enter the transfer portal. All said they were happy in Miami.
Odom will be hard at work throughout the upcoming months to build his roster.
“We have to prepare to put together a championship roster and one that we’re all going to be proud of and we have to get to work once it’s done,” Odom said Monday. “Our recipe at VCU was get the best high school players that you could possibly get – whether they’re coming straight from high school, prep school, didn’t matter – find the best players that fit your university and fit your style of play. Retain your players. There’s nothing more important than retention because they understand the culture.”
This isn’t Odom’s first rodeo. As a head coach at VCU, he has experience navigating the changing dynamics of roster-building.
“He had done a really good job at Utah State and VCU in this new era,” said athletic director Carla Williams, “and so that was a meaningful part of the decision. … He’s a proven winner that is familiar with the changing landscape and what’s needed in the transfer portal and how to get there and what to do.”
If one thing is clear, it’s that UVA athletics must evolve its strategy to keep up with the times. “This is not our old amateur college athletics,” Williams said. “This is a completely new industry. So, we have been transitioning (to give) our coaches, particularly in football and men’s and women’s basketball, what they need to compete for championships.”
The rebuild is already off to a good start. Just hours after Odom was officially hired as head coach, Chance Mallory, the four star class of 2025 recruit from Charlottesville, announced his recommitment to UVA, after committing then decommitting last fall due to Bennett’s sudden retirement. Hopefully it’s a sign of more to come.
Leave a Reply