Virginia men’s basketball reportedly will turn to an antagonist from its past.
According to various reports, including The Athletic, the Cavaliers are expected to hire Ryan Odom from VCU — and a few stops before that, from the University of Maryland Baltimore County squad that stunned Virginia in the 2018 NCAA Tournament — to become their new head coach.
Odom led VCU to the NCAA Tournament in his second season with the Atlantic 10 program, whose season ended Thursday with a loss to sixth-seeded BYU.
He has moved steadily through the ranks of college basketball, his run beginning in 2016 at the unheralded UMBC, with whom he qualified for the school’s second-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in ’18 — when the Retrievers became the first No. 16 seed to take down a No. 1 seed, with Virginia getting demolished in one of the largest upsets in the sport’s history.
Odom remained at UMBC until 2021, when he made the leap to Utah State.
Just like at VCU, he lasted two seasons, cracked the NCAA Tournament in the second season and then climbed to a bigger program.
Now Odom, a North Carolina native and the son of longtime Wake Forest and South Carolina head coach Dave Odom, goes close to home.
The Cavaliers hope they have found a true replacement for Tony Bennett, who shocked the college basketball world by retiring shortly before this season, citing frustration with the NIL era that he did not feel equipped for.
Associate head coach Ron Sanchez took over and led Virginia to a 15-17 season.