The Virginia Tech Hokies appear to have settled on a new head basketball coach.
According to Gene Wang of the Washington Post and Travis Wells of WDBJ, UMBC coach Ryan Odom looks set to be named the new coach at Virginia Tech, replacing Buzz Williams.
Bring told #Hokies are set to announce Ryan Odom as new men’s basketball coach today at 6. Stay tuned.
— Gene Wang (@gene_wang) April 6, 2019
Everything pointing to Ryan Odom as next VT basketball coach.
— Travis Wells (@TravisWells7) April 6, 2019
If the name sounds familiar, that’s because Odom was the coach of the UMBC team that famously upset Virginia as a 16-seed in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. Odom didn’t bite at bigger jobs then, but instead has waited a year and will get to take a big step up.
Odom has an 89-54 record as a head coach. UMBC’s run last year remains his lone NCAA Tournament appearance, so the Hokies are definitely taking a risk in hiring a coach who doesn’t have the longest track record of success. He’s definitely proven he can come up huge in the big moment, though.
