Ryan Odom introduced as next USU men’s basketball head coach
On April 6, Utah State’s newly announced men’s head basketball coach Ryan Odom, his wife, Lucia, and their two sons drove their rental car north on the I-15 through Davis Country, UT, fresh off a four-hour flight from Baltimore to Salt Lake City.
Based upon a recommendation from his new boss — athletic director John Hartwell — Odom and his family made an important first stop on Utah soil: the In-and-Out in Centerville.
Devouring a combined eight cheeseburgers and four shakes, the trip to the classic west-coast chain was the first step for a bunch of east coasters looking to feel at home in their new territory, the Mountain West.
Waking up the next morning, Odom’s first day on the job, he looked outside and saw the moon still peaking just over the Wellsville mountains, and was taken aback by the scenery.
The same day he was formulating first impressions of his new home, he was taking his second step, which was to make a strong first impression on his new team and all of Aggie nation.
In a meeting with the Aggie players and the press conference that followed, Odom took his third step — sharing what his plan was for the program and its future.
“We’re coming to a place that is just so passionate about their school, it’s so refreshing,” Odom said. “It’s what we’ve wanted as a family and for my job. To be in a place where people really care about the basketball program — not to say they didn’t care about it at UMBC — but the majority of the places haven’t been like this where it’s just a whole nother level.”
The former UMBC coach — who is known primarily for being the only coach to lead a No.16 seed to victory over a No.1 seed in the NCAA tournament — has a tough responsibility ahead of him. People expect him to sustain the success the former USU coach Craig Smith had. The past three seasons saw the Aggies qualify for three straight NCAA tournaments and win two Mountain West championships.
But Odom made it clear in his introductory press conference that he doesn’t just want to meet expectations in his first job west of the Appalachian mountains, he wants to exceed them.
“We want to be a top 25 team year in and year out,” he said. “We want to advance in the NCAA tournament…we want to chase excellence”
Sure, excellence is what every coach wants, but the 46-year old — who coincidentally enough, proposed to his wife while he was on a vacation in Utah 21 years ago — returns to the state extra confident in his lofty goals, because he believes he’s at a university that will provide him with a legitimate chance to chase them.
Odom has certainly achieved excellence before. At UMBC, he won the American East tournament and first-round tournament game against Virginia in 2018, and the American East regular-season title in 2021. Before his UMBC tenure, he led division two Lenoir-Rhyne in North Carolina to its first regional finals appearance in school history in his first gig as a head coach.
He also has been surrounded by it for much of his life.
Odom grew up much of his childhood in North Carolina where his father, Dave Odom, coached at East Carolina from 1979-82, and Wake Forest from 1989-2000. Odom Sr. made it to seven straight NCAA tournaments — and with future hall-of-famer Tim Duncan on his team, — won back-to-back ACC championships from 1995-97 and made the 1996 Elite Eight.
Odom also spent seven years as an assistant at Virginia Tech under Seth Greenburg, where he got a taste of coaching in the ACC and the NCAA tournament.
His resume implies that he has what it takes to obtain excellence in Logan. But stepping out of his comfort zone to be a head coach at one the most successful mid-major programs out west, in the best mid-major conference out west, the pressure will be bigger than ever before.
“It’s a big boy league. That’s the reality of it,” Odom said. “There are pros throughout this conference and we’re evidence of that the last two years having guys that are and will be NBA players.”
He appears to have the basketball knowledge and resources to succeed.
Saying he wants to play an “efficient” style of basketball, Odom believes in shooting a high volume of three-pointers and layups, while limiting his opponents from getting those same shots. His strategy was successful at UMBC.
The Retrievers finished top-three in the American East in both offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency in the 2020-21 season, per Ken Pom.
With a combined annual budget of $680,000 to hire assistant coaches and a head of basketball operations, Odom can surround himself with fellow high-level basketball minds.
The final piece to a winning team, he needs to have talented players.
“The wins will come if you have guys that are that good,” he said bluntly.
That starts with retaining the current talent on the roster. Alphonso Anderson has already announced that he’s moving on, and by all indications, Max Shulga and Rollie Worster are out as well. In addition, Neemias Queta declared for the NBA Draft this past week.
But there are enough core guys that are clearly staying. Justin Bean publicly announced his loyalty to the program. Brock Miller isn’t going anywhere. If Odom can retain Marco Anthony, he’ll be inheriting three of last year’s five starters.
“These guys are the most important thing that we have right here,” Odom said. “I got to make sure that they love this place. I gotta make sure that they stay here, that they earn my trust.”
The other step is bringing in some new blood. With the NCAA making transfers immediately eligible to play next season, there are approximately 1,000 players in the transfer portal at the moment. With most high school seniors already committed elsewhere, the portal is where recruiting will have to start. Odom understands that it’s the way to improve his team the fastest.
He believes Utah State is in a “unique situation” that will help him bring those kids to Logan.
“There’s only but so many schools at our level that have what we have and have had the recent success that we have had here at Utah State,” he said. “These guys want to taste the NCAA tournament and who was just in it? Utah State. You kind of just have to be connected to try and get the right players that see the value of coming here.”
The hope from Aggie nation is that Odom follows through on his commitment to excellence, wins some basketball games, and isn’t In-and-Out in just a few seasons.
@jacobnielson12
—sports@usustatesman.com