We know that, in the end, the charm of Arkansas football, which is to have two main coordinators, must end. When Sam Pittman lets Barry Odom lead the defense and Kendall Bryers leads the attack, it’s unlikely the two coordinators will last long. Either the Razors will struggle under Pittman and one or both will be fired in two seasons, or—surprise, surprise—the Razors will actually do well under Pittman, one or two will go to greener pasture.
Somehow the best happened: Arkansas’ football program performed as well as one could hope for during the first two seasons of the Pittman era, and its star coordinator decided to stay for a third year in a row. Both coordinators have dropped a number of high-profile plans to stay in Fayetteville — a sign that under Pittman the program is turning into a destination rather than coaches looking for their first head coaching job (like Briles) or seeking to regain their sincerity before returning to head coaching. (like Odom).
However, elite destinations can have revolving doors when it comes to coordinators. Just look at Alabama, where coordinators have rarely served more than two seasons since Kirby Smart left to take over Georgia in 2016. In fact, in the five years since then, Nick Saban has only enjoyed the return of two coordinators for two consecutive seasons.
Being an elite does not prevent high staff turnover. However, being attractive and elite is another matter. Pittman, as we all know, turned out to be a good boss. Not only do he and Odom respect each other, they seem to really enjoy each other (not every head coach and defensive coordinator hang out together a lot). “I really enjoy working with Coach Pittman,” Lamar Odom said at a recent press conference. “I think he is not only a great leader, but also a great leader. He is a great representative of our program. I will always be very picky.”
When it comes to deepening relationships, it’s also important that Pittman can count on Odom in his first season as Hogg.
As head coach of the Missouris, Odom was where Pittman is now. This experience has made him an invaluable asset to Arkansas football as other programs now benefit from former Power 5 head coaches doing what some call “bouncing back”: Manny Diaz (Pennsylvania, D.C.), Al Golden (Notre -Dam, DC), Derek Mason (Oklahoma, DC) and Major Applewhite (South Alabama, DC).
However, to some national pundits who think he’s ready to leave Fayetteville, Odom has proved irresistible. Analysts such as CBS Sports and 247Sports’ Carl Reed seem keen to see Odom leave the Razorbacks.
“I think Barry Odom is ready to be a head coach again and I really think he’s going to be an aspiration for a lot of people,” Reid said on CBS Sports’ The Block earlier this month.
Perhaps a year before he was fired, Odom was “ready” to become a head coach as early as 2016, when he first took over from his alma mater in Columbia, Missouri. Reed’s suggestion in a segment called “Arkansas, D.C. Barry Odom Ready to Be Head Coach Again” is that Odom should see this as a good time to leave the Razorbacks.
“His experience with Sam Pittman in Arkansas will put him in a different position in the hiring cycle,” Reed said. “He’s got a full SEC recruiting program now that the University of Missouri probably doesn’t have. He’s proven to be a leader on defense and I think we’ll soon see him get a chance here again…”
The 247Sports list compiled by Riley Gates titled “College Football Assistants Who Will Become Head Coaches” echoes the same sentiment. Odom moves forward.
While Odom appears to be destined to return to the head coach job at some point in the future, these analysts are speculating too much, mostly assuming it will happen or should happen by the end of the season. They don’t seem to have a deep understanding of Odom’s specifics.
“I am very happy to be in the same place for three years in a row. It’s hard these days,” he said. “Besides, my family loves it here. I have a son who is in middle school, a son who is in second grade, and a daughter who is in second grade and she has a lot of energy. My wife loves it… They are healthy, They are happy.”
“I don’t need to change jobs because of my ego. I do not need it. I think that everything that a student-athlete wants to achieve, we will achieve here.”
Rooting out families is no easy task, especially in this case, and it means removing teenagers from their high school teams (like J.T. and Garith Odom, who has a football offer from Arkansas). Even Chad Morris didn’t want to disrupt his home life in Dallas by moving his son Chandler Morris to Fayetteville before finishing his senior year. Many Razorback fans didn’t like this decision, but the desire to maintain a continuity with another coach in a similar situation may now serve Arkansas.
If Odom wanted to show himself as head coach again, now he is gone. However, he probably just didn’t want to mess around with the program level, because that would mean leaving. Consider last season’s 30 jobs, these were former head coaches hired back as head coaches: Joe Moorhead (Akron), Mike McIntyre (FIU), Jeff Tedder Ford (Fresno), Clay Helton (South Georgia), Jerry Keel (New York). Mexico), Jim Mora (University of Connecticut) and Don Brown (University of Massachusetts).
Why would anyone in their right mind drop out of a good school like Arkansas for one of the above – and cause football-playing teenagers to be relocated?
Understandably, Odom doesn’t want to be content with mediocre mainstreams, and he’s clearly knocked out a few bigger projects than Arkansas (LSU and Texas) when it comes to lateral movement.
In short, Odom has shown his high degree of selectivity because he knows he has good business in Fayetteville. Carl Reid took note of this, saying, “Because he has a really great job as a D coordinator in Arkansas, he can pick and choose the opportunities he sees to a certain extent.”
Odom can definitely be very selective. In his third year, he and his family found a life in Fayetteville that could tick a lot of boxes. “I am in a very good position and that means a lot to me,” he said a few days ago. “I feel very, very strongly about the University of Arkansas and our football program.”
This is far from the first time Odom has publicly emphasized these things. A commentator like Carl Reed would be better off not speaking his comments like a glib coach, but delving deeper into why Odom thinks this way.
They may find that the reason he signed up for Year 3 is also likely to keep him working in Year 4.
Post time: Aug-22-2022