Ryan Odom could be back in the spotlight two years after pulling off perhaps the greatest upset in the history of college basketball.
Jeff Goodman of Stadium reported on Saturday that the UMBC head coach is among the candidates to take over the Wake Forest after their firing of Danny Manning. Goodman also lists East Tennessee State’s Steve Forbes, UNC Greensboro’s Wes Miller, and Winthrop’s Pat Kelsey as other candidates.
The 45-year-old Odom, whose No. 16-seeded Retrievers famously beat top-seeded Virginia in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament, is probably the most intriguing name on the list. Jeff Borzello of ESPN also mentioned Odom’s name in connection with the Wake Forest job, noting that Odom’s father Dave coached the Demon Deacons from 1989 to 2001.
While Odom has had a largely unimpressive record of 37-40 (.481) in his last two seasons at UMBC, he could be an exciting hire for a sputtering Wake Forest program that has not made it to the Round of 64 in over a decade.
