RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- The Virginia Cavaliers have officially announced the selection of Virginia Commonwealth University's head coach Ryan Odom to become their next head coach.
The decision was revealed officially on Saturday morning, publicizing Odom as the 13th head men's basketball coach since
the program's start.
Ryan Odom in two years at VCU compiled a 52-21 record and led the Rams to an Atlantic 10 regular season and tournament championship this season.
The Rams season ended on Thursday in the NCAA tournament when 11th-seed VCU lost to 6th-seed BYU 80-71.
Odom has led three separate programs to the NCAA tournament. He led Utah State to the 2023 tournament and, most notably, 16-seed UMBC to a first-round win over 1-seed Virginia in the 2018 tournament. At the time, it was the only time in the tournament's history that a 16-seed defeated a one-seed.
Odom is no stranger to the ACC. He spent seven seasons as an assistant at Virginia Tech under Seth Greenburg, and his father, Dave Odom, was a head coach at Wake Forest.
Ryan Odom replaces Ron Sanchez as head coach of the Cavaliers who spent this past season as the interim head coach after Tony Bennett unexpectedly retired in October. Sanchez led the Cavaliers to a 15-17 record.
VCU is left looking for its fifth head coach since 2017.
There will be a press conference held on the main court of John Paul Jones Arena on Monday, March 24 at 3 p.m. to introduce Odom in the new role. The event will be open to the public, and free parking will be available in the main JPJ lot.
For fans who wish to watch the conference, they can watch it live on the ACC Network or view the live streams that will be available at VirginiaSports.com as well as the Virginia Cavaliers Facebook page. ...read more read less
