Ryan Odom on following Tony Bennett: 'I'm not afraid of it'

After a season under an interim, Ryan Odom will be who’s left to take the place of Tony Bennett at Virginia. That’s not something that bothers him, though, in following after a title-winning head coach.

At his introductory press conference on Monday, Odom was asked about putting together a program with this being his fifth school over this last decade. He referenced who came before him with his other teams but, even with this being his biggest yet, coming after Bennett isn’t something that affects Odom at all.

“I feel very prepared to take on what everyone knows is, is a, a daunting task, you know,” said Odom. “Following Coach Bennett, following a legend? I’ll be honest. I’m at peace with that. I’m not afraid of it. I wouldn’t be standing here if I was afraid of it. I’m excited about it.”

Odom actually looks forward to following his predecessor in Bennett and asking for his advice. He’s the best reference for him as to what his new job is after retiring from the role after a decade and a half in Charlottesville.

“I’m going to need him, quite honestly,” said Odom. “I called him the other day and, and we had a great conversation. He’s very happy right now.

“He said to me, he said, ‘Yeah, we were watching your game against BYU the other night and I asked Laurel’. He said, ‘You know, do I have more gray hair than him’ and Laurel said ‘yes, you do’. And he said, ‘You just wait. you just wait until he gets in that chair’ – and he’s right. It’s coming.”

Bennett retired as the Cavaliers’ head coach just three weeks before the start of this past season. That was after the 15 seasons prior where Virginia was 364-136 (.728) in his tenure as Bennett is the winningest coach in school history. That record included eight conference titles in the ACC and the lone national title for the program in the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

With that, Ron Sanchez took his place as their interim coach. UVA would go 15-17 this season, their worst finish since Bennett’s debut, with a search beginning at the end of the campaign in the second round of the ACC Tournament.

Eleven days later, the ‘Hoos hired Odom after VCU lost to BYU in March Madness. That ended his second season in Richmond, just an hour away in-state, with the Rams being 52-21 (.712), including 28-7 this season in winning the A-10, during his tenure. Add in his time at Charlotte, Utah State, and, yes, at UMBC and Odom is 201-117 (.632) in a decade as a college head coach.

It’s a lot to follow a former coach with a resumé like Bennett’s at Virginia. It’s just not too much for Odom as it’s the kind of situation he wants to be in now that he’ll be coaching the Cavaliers.

“I’m not afraid of the pressure. I’m not afraid of, of that,” Odom said. “As a coach and a competitor, that’s where you want to be. You want to be right in it. You want to be able to stand toe-to-toe with whoever you’re going against and, and do your best and there’s no question we’re going to, we’re going to do that here.”