Report: Ryan Odom Agrees to Contract as Virginia HC After VCU's March Madness Loss

Virginia reportedly has its next men's basketball coach following Tony Bennett's retirement before the 2024-25 season.

Per CBS Sports' Matt Norlander, the Cavaliers plan to hire VCU head coach Ryan Odom, with an official announcement set to be made on Saturday. Odom led the Rams to a 28-6 season season capped off by an A-10 championship and an NCAA tournament appearance.

Odom began his coaching career as an assistant for Furman in 1997 and made several stops before landing with Virginia Tech, where he was an assistant from 2003 to 2010. He landed his first head coaching gig in 2015 with Lenoir-Rhyne.

Odom took over as UMBC's head coach in 2016, where he famously took down his new team, Virginia, as the No. 16 seed in the 2018 NCAA tournament. UMBC became the first No. 16 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed in tournament history and remains one of just two schools to do so.

After a successful stint with UMBC, he was named Utah State's head coach and took the Aggies to the NCAA tournament in 2023.

Odom spent the past two seasons with VCU and found some early success. The Rams went 24-14 a year ago before posting a 28-7 season this year. After advancing to the NCAA tournament with an A-10 Tournament win, the Rams fell short of knocking off No. 6 BYU in an 80-71 loss on Thursday.

Odom had a 52-21 record at VCU and is 193-106 over his nine seasons as a Division I head coach.

Bennett coached the Cavaliers from 2009 to 2024, reaching the NCAA tournament 10 times and winning six ACC titles. A year after the historic upset loss to Odom and UMBC, Bennett and Virginia responded by winning the program's first national championship.

Since winning a title in 2019, the Cavaliers have failed to win a tournament game and missed the big dance entirely this season. Bennett stepping down just weeks before the start of the season didn't help Virginia as it tried to reestablish itself as a national contender.

Turning things around won't be easy for Odom after Virginia's 15-17 season, but he has a track record of winning and will look to continue doing so in Charlottesville.