UMBC to Offer Head Coach Ryan Odom New Contract After Historic Upset vs. UVA

UMBC athletic director Tim Hall said the school plans to offer men's head basketball coach Ryan Odom a raise and a long-term extension after the Retrievers became the first men's No. 16 seed to knock off a No. 1 in NCAA tournament history.

"We need to do within our realm what we can," Hall told Jeff Goodman of ESPN on Sunday. "We obviously can't do what the Power Five schools can do, or anything near that. I think at some point Ryan wants to do it on a bigger stage. I'm just hoping it's down the road instead of now.

"We're going to put something on the table that will be really good for where we're at. We're going to do everything in our power to incentivize him to stay here."

Odom's current contract pays him a base salary of $230,000, which pales in comparison to the compensation of coaches at larger schools. It's unclear how much UMBC would be willing or able to pay a basketball coach due to its smaller standing.

Odom, 43, is 46-24 in his two seasons at UMBC. He previously served as the head coach at Lenoir–Rhyne and was an interim head coach at Charlotte. In addition to his head coaching experience, Odom has been an assistant at Charlotte, Virginia Tech, American, UNC Asheville, Furman and South Florida.

"I haven't even thought about it right now," Odom said after Sunday's loss. "I'm their coach. I'm here. I'm sure they'd like me to be here and I want to still be here."

There may be something said to striking while the iron is hot. Perhaps the most similar situation in recent memory is Andy Enfield, who parlayed Florida Gulf Coast's surprise run to the Sweet 16 in 2013 into the USC head coaching job.