BREAKING: VCU’s Odom reaches deal to become Virginia’s next coach

By Jerry Ratcliffe

According to sources, Ryan Odom has agreed to become the Cavaliers’ next head basketball coach and an official announcement could come as soon as Saturday.

The 50-year-old Odom is the son of former Virginia assistant coach Dave Odom, who went on to lead programs at Wake Forest and South Carolina. Ryan Odom owns a 201-117 career record with head coaching stints at Charlotte, UMBC, Utah State and VCU, where he led the Rams to a 28-7 record and an Atlantic 10 title this season en route to the NCAA Tournament. VCU was eliminated in the first round by No. 6 seed BYU on Thursday.

Odom led UMBC, Utah State and VCU to the NCAA Tournament in his second season at each school. He was 52-21 in his two seasons at VCU.

A former ball boy at UVA basketball games at University Hall when his dad was on the coaching staff, it was almost predestined that he would become heavily involved in the sport. It was an odd twist that his next connection to Virginia basketball came in 2018 when Odom, then the head coach at UMBC, orchestrated a monumental upset when his team delivered a horrific blow to the Cavaliers, the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. UMBC became the first No. 16 seed to upset a No. 1 since the tournament expanded to 64 teams.

Timing is crucial for Virginia in that the transfer portal officially opens on Monday and the Cavaliers need someone in place not only for retention of the present roster (two players have announced their intentions to enter the portal), but also to begin recruiting new talent into the program.

A strong rumor circulating has UVA hiring a general manager for the basketball program and the leading candidate is a former associate of Odom’s. Longwood head basketball coach Griff Aldrich is rumored to be that candidate. Aldrich was Odom’s director of basketball operations at UMBC. He graduated from UVA Law School and was an attorney for 16 years before getting into college basketball.