NCAA Basketball rewind: Most impactful coaching hires after 2016 season

4. Ryan Odom (UMBC)

Let’s be completely honest here, before 2016 (or in actuality two years later), very few people in the college basketball universe knew much about UMBC. The program made their only NCAA Tournament back in 2008 but had largely been a doormat in the America East in the near-decade since. That 2016 offseason brought about a new head coach, someone who greatly elevated the Retrievers program going forward.

Ryan Odom was the son of a coach, as his father Dave spent many years coaching at Wake Forest and South Carolina even while Ryan was beginning his coaching career. The younger Odom bounced around as an assistant at several schools, like Virginia Tech and Charlotte. He had just spent a single season beginning his head coaching career at Lenoir-Rhyne when the Retrievers brought him aboard.

The clear and obvious success was Odom leading UMBC to the first ever victory for a 16-seed over a 1-seed, shocking Virginia during the 2008 NCAA Tournament. Overall, he turned UMBC into a conference threat on an annual basis in the America East, winning a share of that title this past season. Winning 64% of conference games in five years is a huge step upwards for the program. Odom just departed this offseason to take over at Utah State, but he certainly left his mark on the Retrievers.