Football
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Phone:
- 882-2404
- Joined Mizzou:
- 4th Season
- Hometown:
- Maysville, Okla.
- Alma Mater:
- Missouri, 1999
In three years directing his alma mater’s football program, Head Coach Barry Odom has led the Mizzou Football program to impressive achievements. In 2018, Odom’s Tigers finished an exciting regular-season ranked No. 23 in the College Football Playoff poll (No. 24 in the Associated Press poll) with eight wins, reached a second-straight bowl game thanks to yet another strong closing month, and turned heads nationally with one of the year’s most impressive road wins.
Thanks to the building momentum, and a significant amount of returning talent, excitement is high in and around the Mizzou program heading into 2019. Outside prognosticators think highly of Mizzou’s chances to be among the nation’s best this coming season, as several national outlets have the Tigers ranked in their pre-season top-25 polls – with one slotting MU as high as number 13.
Much of the excitement heading into the new season revolves around the lifeblood of any college football program – recruiting. Odom and his staff worked hard to assemble a 2019 signing class that ranked 31st (Rivals.com), a standing that’s among the highest-ranked classes ever assembled at Mizzou. That ranking doesn’t even include what created the most buzz nationally in recruiting circles, when Odom convinced transfer quarterback Kelly Bryant to become a Tiger. The former Clemson starter, who led them to the College Football Playoff in 2017 and had a starting record of 16-2, will bring his significant talents to the program for one year in 2019.
On the field, Odom guided his troops to an 8-5 record in 2018 and to the school’s third all-time appearance in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. After increasing his win total each year since taking over in 2016, Odom’s three-year career mark stands at 19-19. He is only the fourth coach in Mizzou history to reach bowl games in two of his first three seasons at MU, joining College Football Hall of Fame Coach Dan Devine in that category, as well as former coaches Al Onofrio and Warren Powers.
In the classroom, Odom’s program achieved at a record level in 2018. The team turned in a grade point average of 2.90 this past fall, which smashed the previous program record of 2.69 set in the fall of 2015. Additionally, 58 team members – more than half of the 115-man roster – earned a fall GPA of at least 3.0. That is almost double the total of 30 Tigers from fall 2017 who recorded a 3.0 or better.
For the second-straight season, Odom’s team finished the regular season in impressive fashion, going a perfect 4-0 in the month of November. That run was highlighted with a dominant 38-17 win at No. 11 Florida on Nov. 3 that marked Mizzou’s largest road win over a ranked opponent since 2008. Odom’s teams have now won nine-straight games in the month of November, and are 10-2 overall in the penultimate month of the calendar in his three years at the helm. His 19 wins are the most through three seasons by a Tiger coach since Powers won 23 from 1978-80.
THE ODOM FILE |
|
|---|---|
| COACHING EXPERIENCE | |
| 2016-pres. | Head Coach, Missouri |
| 2015 | Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers, Missouri |
| 2012-14 | Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers, Memphis |
| 2009-11 | Safeties, Missouri |
| 2007-08 | Asst. AD/Director of Football Operations, Missouri |
| 2006 | Director of Football Operations, Missouri |
| 2004-05 | Director of Football Recruiting, Missouri |
| 2003 | Administrative Graduate Assistant, Missouri |
| 2001-02 | Head Coach, Rock Bridge (Columbia, Mo.) High School |
| 2000 | Assistant Coach, Ada (Okla.) High School |
| PLAYING EXPERIENCE | |
| Missouri (1996-99) | |
In 2017, Odom put together one of the more remarkable seasons in school history, when his Tigers achieved a seven-win season and earned the program’s first bowl game since 2014. Mizzou closed the regular season as one of the nation’s hottest teams, thanks to a six-game win streak that culminated in a thrilling road win at Arkansas. That win moved Mizzou to 7-5 marking an amazing in-season turnaround that saw MU rebound from a 1-5 start on the year.
Odom’s team earned an invitation to the 2017 Academy Sports + Outdoor Texas Bowl for its effort, and while the end result of the bowl game didn’t go Mizzou’s way, the appearance certainly represented an important step in the right direction for the program. Coming off a 4-8 season in 2016, Mizzou was picked to finish dead last in the seven-team Southeastern Conference Eastern Division by the pre-season pundits, but the Tigers defied the prognosticators as they ended tied for third at 4-4 in league play – becoming the first SEC team to ever start 0-4 in conference play and finish 4-4.
Odom became the first Mizzou coach to make a bowl game in his second year at MU since Powers did so in each of his first two seasons in 1978 and 1979.
A longtime presence at Mizzou, Odom, 42, is guiding a program he has been immersed in at every level for some 17 years – including seven as a coach (2009-11, 2015-18), six in an administrative capacity (2003-08), and four as a highly-successful student-athlete (1996-99).
The 2016 season was Odom’s first as Mizzou’s head coach, and came after he had spent the previous four seasons as a defensive coordinator, including three at Memphis (2012-14) and one at Missouri (2015), where his units were considered among the nation’s best.
Highly-respected among his coaching peers for his integrity and for his championship vision, Odom worked through a rebuilding year in 2016 that saw Mizzou win four games. The Tigers closed the season out in strong fashion, with wins in two of their final three games - with both coming against bowl teams in Arkansas and Vanderbilt.
Odom was named the 32nd head football coach in program history in December of 2015, and his undeniable passion for Mizzou, coupled with his strong track record of success at each level of his career, pointed to him being the right man to lead the Tigers into the future in the nation’s toughest conference.
In 2015, Odom turned in an outstanding season as first-year defensive coordinator for Mizzou under coach Gary Pinkel (who retired after that season), as his Tigers ranked ninth nationally in total defense, allowing just 302.0 yards per game. Since the NCAA began tracking defensive statistics in 1978, that marked the first time in MU history that Mizzou had produced a top-10 defense. Odom’s defense was also ranked seventh nationally in scoring defense (16.2 avg.), seventh in pass defense (169.2 avg.) and second in tackles for loss (8.8 avg.).
Prior to that, Odom became one of the more highly sought-after coordinators in the country due to three stellar years directing Memphis’ defense from 2012-14. His 2014 defense was a key component of Memphis’ 10-3 season, as his unit finished the regular season ranked fifth nationally in scoring defense (17.1 avg.) and 22nd in total defense (343.3 avg.). That marked an impressive incremental improvement under Odom’s watch, as Memphis ranked 117th nationally in total defense the season prior to his arrival. In his first season at Memphis, the defense improved to 50th nationally (383.6 avg.), followed by a jump to 39th in 2013 (370.7 avg.). Memphis earned a share of the 2014 American Athletic Conference title, giving them a conference championship for the first time since 1971.
Odom, a Maysville, Okla., native played at Mizzou and starred as a linebacker from 1996-99. He ended his playing career with 362 tackles, which still ranks as seventh-most in school history. Odom was a captain for his senior year of 1999, and was a key figure on the Missouri teams which reached bowl games in 1997 and 1998, ending a 14-year postseason drought for Tiger fans.
Success followed Odom’s career path at each future stop after his playing days. After earning his undergraduate degree in December of 1999, he served as an intern with Mizzou’s Tiger Scholarship Fund while he worked on his Master’s in Education from the University of Missouri (which he would earn in May of 2004). He returned to his home state of Oklahoma in July of that year to serve as an assistant football coach for his alma mater Ada High School, which finished that season as runners-up for a state title.
Odom was quickly back in his adopted hometown of Columbia, Mo., the next spring, as he took over as head coach at Rock Bridge High School. He quickly built the Bruins into a power, as they went 6-4 in 2001, and won a conference championship. He followed with an 8-4 campaign in 2002 that saw Rock Bridge reach the semifinals of the state championship playoffs.
Running a college program became a focal point next, and Odom began that path by joining the Mizzou football staff, first as an administrative graduate assistant for Pinkel in 2003. He spent the 2004 and 2005 seasons as Pinkel’s director of recruiting as the staff assembled a core group which would help lead Mizzou to consecutive Big 12 Conference North Division titles in 2007 and 2008 which consisted of 12-win and 10-win seasons, respectively.
From 2006-08, Odom helped run Pinkel’s program administratively as his director of operations. In that role, Odom oversaw coordination of the team’s budget, travel plans (including bowl trips to the Sun, Cotton and Alamo bowls during that stretch), compliance issues, facilities operations and scheduling, as well as assisting with recruiting operations and managing the program’s day-to-day overall operations.
As director of football operations, he coordinated all public relations activities and community service events that required the presence of Mizzou’s football student-athletes, and also played a key role as part of the design and planning team that oversaw the expansion and renovation of the Mizzou Athletics Training Complex, which opened in February of 2008.
Born Nov. 26, 1976, in Lawton, Okla., Odom and his wife Tritia (Tia) were married in July of 2000. Tia is a native of Kahoka, Mo., and is a graduate of MU’s College of Human Environmental Sciences. The couple has three children – sons James Trump and Garyt Robert, and daughter Anna Lockwood.
