More than a profession: It’s a legacy
For Utah State Men’s Basketball head coach Ryan Odom, coaching basketball is a profession. But for the Odom family, coaching basketball is much more than just a profession; It’s a legacy. Ryan is the son of legendary Wake Forest and South Carolina head coach Dave Odom.
Dave was named ACC Coach of the Year three times and SEC Coach of the Year once. He produced three consensus All-Americans who were all taken in the first round of the NBA Draft. One of them included Hall of Fame center Tim Duncan who was named an All-American twice, was the 1997 AP Player of the Year, and was the number one overall pick in the 1997 NBA Draft.
Dave Odom posted a winning percentage of 59.9% in his 19 years at Wake Forest and South Carolina. He had a losing season just four times in that stretch while leading his teams to two conference Championships, three NIT Championships and nine NCAA Tournament appearances.
With that kind of college basketball coaching resume, Ryan Odom certainly has a legacy attached to his name. Ryan came to Utah State this season after spending five seasons at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, or UMBC. In his six years before coming to Logan, Ryan had an overall record of 105-71. His father spent his whole career coaching basketball, so it’s not unreasonable to expect Ryan to follow the same career path. While that is what happened, that was not always the plan for Ryan and Dave Odom.
It was only natural Ryan grew up playing basketball and, having Dave Odom as a dad, Ryan was a good player too. Good enough that at the end of his high school playing career he was looking to move on to college hoops. Ryan was offered a walk-on spot at Wake Forest by his dad but opted to go to Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia and continue playing.
“I still had the bug to play,” Ryan said about his decision. “I was self-aware enough to realize that going to Wake Forest was going to be a challenge if I really wanted to continue to play in games. If I decided to go to Wake it was, ‘You’re going to be a practice player and you’re trying to help the team get ready.’”
Ryan chose Hampden-Sydney so he would have better opportunities to play in games. He also focused on his school work. He pursued a degree in economics and was planning on following that career path.
“I’d always said growing up coaching wasn’t going to be my first choice,” Odom said.
One summer after his junior year of college changed that, however, when Ryan interned at Bank of America in Charlotte, North Carolina. He soon realized he would rather pursue coaching than a career in the finance industry.
“I spent the summer doing that and had a great time, enjoyed it. At the same time, I knew at that point, I’m not sure I want to do this as soon as I graduate,” Ryan said. “I decided to give it a chance and opt into coaching at that point.”
Even though coaching had served him well, Dave was quite surprised to hear about his son’s sudden change in career goals.
“We’re sitting at the dinner table one night during one of the holidays. He’s home for a week or so, and he says right out of nowhere, ‘Dad, I’ve made up my mind, I want to coach.’” Dave said. “I was taken aback.”
After a discussion with his son, Dave helped Ryan get a job at the University of South Florida with coach Seth Greenberg, who had been a former coach under Dave at Wake Forest. Before Ryan found the job at USF, Dave offered him an open position at Wake Forest. Once again, Ryan turned down a chance to join his dad.
“He said to me, ‘No, I’m going to get my own job. I want you to help me, but I want to do it.’” Dave said. “‘I don’t want people to say that I’m just latching onto your tail and letting you clear the way for me. I want to earn it.’”
Ryan did just that. He earned his way up to a head coaching position at Charlotte, was lured away to UMBC and is now the head coach for the Aggies. During his time as a head coach, Ryan has found himself in a similar situation that his dad was in. Ryan’s son, Connor, is currently a walk-on at Utah State. Connor is a sophomore, but this is the first season he has played with his father.
Connor started his college career by going to the University of Maryland rather than following his dad to UMBC.
“I didn’t want to walk-on for my dad at first just because of the stigma,” Connor said. “I didn’t want to be known as, ‘I’m on the team because of my dad’ type of thing. I wanted to kind of do it on my own.”
When Ryan became the head coach at Utah State, Connor decided to transfer and join him. When Connor’s time is up as a player, he is looking at the possibility of carrying on the Odom coaching legacy.
“I definitely want to coach in some way, to do something with basketball. I don’t know what specifically, but I definitely would want to pursue that,” Connor said. “It’s just always been around me. I‘ve been around it and so I’ve fallen in love with the game throughout the years.”
For Ryan, his son wanting to coach did not come as a surprise. Ryan is just as supportive of the decision as his father was with him.
“If that’s something that he decides he wants to do, my responsibility as a father is to help him go chase his dreams, whatever those are,” Ryan said. “If it so happens that he chooses to coach in college or coach on some level, then I want to try to help him do that.”