Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2009
In all, Odom's teams produced nine consecutive postseason appearances, including seven straight NCAA Tournament trips from 1991-1997, and Atlantic Coast Conference championships in 1995 and 1996.
Odom was named ACC Coach-of-the-Year in 1991, 1994, and 1995, becoming the first individual to receive that honor in consecutive seasons since Virginia's Terry Holland in 1981 and 1982.
Odom compiled a 240-132 record with the Demon Deacons for a .645 win percentage in 12 seasons. In the four-year span from 1994-1997, Odom's teams posted a .758 winning percentage. In 1995, 1996, and 1997, Wake Forest finished as one of the top ten teams in the country, claiming the third spot in 1995 and ninth in the 1996 and 1997 final polls.
Odom coached three players who have earned All-America honors, including the 1997 consensus national player of the year Tim Duncan (1996, 1997); guard Randolph Childress (1996); and forward Rodney Rogers (1993). Duncan was also a two-time ACC Player of the Year, an award won by Rogers in 1993. Rogers (1993) and Robert O'Kelley (1998) were ACC Rookie of the Year under Odom's direction.
Following his successful career at Wake Forest, Odom accepted the head coaching job at the University of South Carolina. He led the Gamecocks to four postseason berths, including back-to-back NIT championships. He compiled a 128-104 record at South Carolina before his retirement after the 2007-2008 season.
A native of Goldsboro, N.C., Odom spent the majority of his coaching career in North Carolina, first on the high school level at Goldsboro High and Durham High, then beginning his collegiate coach as an assistant at Wake Forest under Carl Tacy from 1976 through 1979. He went on to serve as head coach at East Carolina for three years (1980-82, 38-42 record) before returning to the ACC as an assistant on Holland's staff at Virginia, where in seven seasons he helped the Cavaliers reach postseason play six times.
Odom is a 1965 graduate of Guilford College, where he played basketball for four years and was quarterback of the Quaker football squad for three seasons. As a senior, he was named the school's most outstanding athlete and is a member of the Guilford Sports Hall of Fame.
Odom was inducted into the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame on Sept. 26, 2008.
