Odom fills assistant coach spot
Barry Odom is back to a full staff of assistant coaches after announcing the hire of his brother, Brian Odom, this morning. Brian Odom replaces Greg Brown, who left the Tigers for Auburn last month.
Odom will serve as the outside linebackers coach for Missouri and a source has said he will also assist with some special teams duties. That means Ryan Walters, who was the safeties coach last year, will now coach the entire secondary.
Odom comes to Mizzou from Washington State, where he was a defensive quality control coach for Mike Leach. Prior to that, he ran the strength and conditioning program at Houston. He was previously at Mizzou as an administrative assistant for Gary Pinkel in 2005. He also spent seven years in the strength and conditioning program at Arizona.
“I’m excited to have Brian join our staff, he will be a great fit for us in a variety of roles,” Barry Odom said in a release. “He has an understanding of the defensive structure we’re going to run, he’s been around it extensively his last couple of years at Washington State, and he and I have spent a lot of time together personally prior to that studying and sharing defensive philosophies. He’s got a great mind for football, and he has a strong background in leading, mentoring and motivating players to improve themselves and attain goals. I know what I’m getting with Brian, and I know the opportunity to be back at Mizzou means a lot to him.”
“I am extremely grateful this opportunity, and I’d like to thank Coach Odom and his staff and Director of Athletics Jim Sterk for giving me the opportunity to come back to Mizzou,” Brian Odom said in the release. “I’m excited to get my family back to the great town of Columbia and be part of a school that I’ve followed closely for over 20 years now. I’m really excited about the future of the program and it’s an honor to coach in such a prestigious league as the SEC and represent the state of Missouri. I’m looking forward to doing great things with this outstanding staff."
Odom has worked on the Washington State defensive staff led by former Mizzou assistant Alex Grinch for the last two years.
“He was vital to our staff,” Grinch said in Missouri's release. “When you have someone who was a head strength coach like he was, he’s basically ran his own football program. It’s a unique deal, only something that a head coach and a head strength coach know about. To run a position room, that becomes a little easier with the background he has. Having that kind of perspective, in terms of motivating and dealing with players on a day-to-day basis, it’s a feather in his cap. Brian is a big detail-oriented guy. We’ll miss him here and I know he’ll do a great job at Mizzou