Odom, Barry Odom, Barry
Football

Going Long - Barry Odom's Story as Told by the City of Ada

While the state of Missouri and the City of Columbia have become home for Mizzou Football Head Coach Barry Odom, he can trace his roots all the way back to small-town Oklahoma. A native of Maysville, Okla., a town with a population of 1,226 and less than two square miles of land, Odom made a name for himself at Maysville High School as a standout football star during his freshman through junior seasons. As a senior, he transferred to Ada High School, about an hour down the road from his hometown. He scored 39 touchdowns for the state power that year as he caught the attention of then Mizzou head Coach Larry Smith. The rest is history as Odom went on to star at Mizzou as a linebacker who embodied all the things that the Missouri community endeared.

While the state of Missouri and the City of Columbia have become home for Mizzou Football Head Coach Barry Odom, he can trace his roots all the way back to small-town Oklahoma. A native of Maysville, Okla., a town with a population of 1,226 and less than two square miles of land, Odom made a name for himself at Maysville High School as a standout football star during his freshman through junior seasons. As a senior, he transferred to Ada High School, about an hour down the road from his hometown. He scored 39 touchdowns for the state power that year as he caught the attention of then Mizzou head Coach Larry Smith. The rest is history as Odom went on to star at Mizzou as a linebacker who embodied all the things that the Missouri community endeared.

Odom began his coaching career in Ada, serving as an assistant coach at Ada High School before returning to Columbia in 2001. The City of Ada still draws tremendous pride in Coach Odom's accomplishments and put together a feature on Mizzou's head coach. The 15-minute feature titled Going Long, is below and shows how Coach Odom can trace many of his coaching and personal values back to the place he grew up.