The University of Virginia has reached an agreement with Ryan Odom to become its next men's basketball coach, per CBS Sports' Matt Norlander and multiple other reports. An announcement could come as early as Saturday.

Odom, age 50, led Virginia Commonwealth University to the NCAA Tournament this season. The Rams won both the Atlantic 10 Regular Season title and the Atlantic 10 Tournament title this season to earn an 11 seed in the field. They lost to No. 6 seed BYU, 80-71, in an East Regional opening round game Thursday. Over two seasons at VCU, Odom compiled a 52-21 record. The program made the NIT Quarterfinals in his first season.

The Rams hired Odom in 2023 after a short stint at Utah State in the Mountain West Conference. He posted a 44-25 record there with an NIT appearance in year one and an NCAA Tournament appearance in year two. Prior to that job, Odom served as the head coach at the University of Maryland Baltimore County for five seasons. UMBC had a 97-60 record on his watch with a CIT Semifinal appearance and an NCAA Tournament win in 2018. He also led Charlotte for 18 games (8-11) in 2014-2015 when head coach Alan Major took a leave of absence and Lenoir-Rhyne for one season in 2015-16 (21-10, NCAA Division II Sweet 16).

Over his career to date, Odom owns a 222-127 record. Odom received the Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year Award, given annually since 2005 to the most outstanding mid-major men's college basketball head coach in NCAA Division I competition, in 2017-2018. He was also a finalist for the 2024-25 Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award, given annually to the Division I coach who wins with integrity on and off the court.

He has won 20+ games in 7 of 9 full seasons as a head coach (UMBC played a shortened schedule in 2020-2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic). He led all three programs under his watch to the Division I NCAA Tournament and Lenoir-Rhyne into the Division II NCAA Tournament as well. He has one D1 NCAA Tournament win with that coming against UVA in 2018 in the first ever win for a No. 16 seed against a No. 1 seed.

Odom's ties to Virginia go much deeper than that upset win, though. His father Dave Odom worked as an assistant to legendary UVA coach Terry Holland from 1982-1989 before taking over as the head coach at Wake Forest. Ryan Odom recounted his days as a child around the Virginia program prior to that 2018 tournament matchup.

"Just a special time, you know, in our lives," Odom said in 2018. "We moved there I'd say I was in third grade, something like that. Stayed there, you know until about you know, 10th grade, going into 10th grade. We left that summer when dad went back to Wake Forest. Just around so many highly successful people. And everything started with Coach Holland and how he created that family atmosphere around his program. And I just think about it, you know, and how lucky - I didn't realize it at the time, obviously when you're going through it sometimes you don't really recognize it until you're out of it, but I'd get home from school, ride my bike across that bridge, we lived two doors down from the Hollands, and I'd go over there and watch practice. I would sit on the side with Jeff Jones who had just graduated. He was just out of college a couple years and wasn't allowed to be on the court at that time. So he and I would sit on the side and dribble the ball between our legs and watch these great players and coaches go at it. You think about Coach Holland and all of his assistants that he had that have all been successful in their own way and gone out and done amazing things. The players that have gone on, you know, to be successful in life. Just I feel very blessed to have been a part of it."

During that time, Odom participated as a ball boy at University Hall, the former home arena of the Hoos. In 2018, he recalled some memories from that time as well with names like Ralph Sampson and Michael Jordan.

"I was on the basket. I was sitting on the basket when Ralph was shooting his last free throw and the ball bounced off, I think, and he gets the rebound and puts it back in. That was the last shot he made, I think in U Hall," Odom said in 2018. "So, that's where I started, I was on the basket and run out on the court when the team was on the other side and wipe it, wipe up the sweat and get off the court. Try to stay out there a little bit longer, you know, so everybody could see the little kid. And then I graduated to honestly sitting behind the opposing team's bench and so I would hand the opposing team's players water behind the bench. I saw them all come through there, I saw Dean [Smith] come through, and Coach K and Jim Valvano, Bobby Cremins, Lefty Driesell. I sat right behind all of them. I would rebound with our players prior to the game, sometimes go in the other end and passing it back to MJ on occasion when they were in town. Just - it's some amazing memories. Just very, very fortunate."

The opportunity to come full circle back to Charlottesville came into play this past fall. The head coaching position with the Cavaliers opened in October when Tony Bennett retired just before the start of the season. Bennett finished his career at UVA as the winningest coach in program history with a 364-136 record. He also led Virginia to the 2019 National Championship, the 2014 and 2018 ACC Tournament titles, and six ACC Regular Season Championships. After capturing the 2019 crown, however, the Hoos did not win another NCAA Tournament game and the landscape of college sports shifted with changes to Name, Image, and Likeness rules and future revenue sharing. Bennett cited the new environment as part of the reason for his retirement.

Long-time Bennett assistant Ron Sanchez took over as the interim head coach for the 2024-2025 season. The Hoos posted a 15-17 overall record with an 8-12 mark in the ACC. They lost to Georgia Tech, 66-60, in their ACC Tournament game.

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