Missouri Football: Why the Tigers should extend head coach Barry Odom

After leading the Missouri Tigers to another winning season and its second bowl appearance in his first three seasons, head coach Barry Odom is a commodity.

After two winning seasons, it’s realistic to expect that coaches like Odom will garner interest from other programs to become their head coach, but despite the rumors, it seems Odom isn’t interested in leaving Columbia.

What started as giving Odom a chance to show his worth, while serving as a stop-gap, the head coach has grown Missouri’s football program into something more than many expected it would become.

Yes, the Tigers have, absolutely, experienced their shares of highs and lows under Odom, but the team has rallied around its coach many times in three seasons, and in the last two years, has made hay when opportunities allow.

Missouri Tigers

When a team gives up on a coach or a philosophy, it’s not particularly interested in shifting momentum into a positive gain, or winning-out a season, nor does it stand in full support of its coach.

Admittedly, during Odom’s first year as the Tigers’ head coach, I did not pay wholehearted interest in whether the team bought into his ideals, or if he even had any concrete philosophy. He probably had enough on his plate trying to make the best of the opportunity given him.

In 2017, it seemed the team was buying into the philosophies of Odom and former offensive coordinator Josh Heupel. The Tigers gave their usual efforts – blow-out wins, blow-out losses, close losses, and close wins, alike.

It wasn’t until Missouri’s loss to Georgia, that I saw a spark from this team. It was then, that anyone who remained with the team was all in. Form there, the Tigers went on a six-game tear, and finished the second half of the season undefeated.

Yes, the lion’s share of those wins were against SEC programs having a bad season, but Odom led his program where it needed to be for bowl eligibility, pride, and saved his job.

This year started similar to 2017 – the Tigers played strong against weaker opponents, but against Purdue, the Tigers faced their first test, and passed. Missouri lost its next four-of-five, but after a heart wrenching loss to Kentucky, the Tigers won their last four, absolutely gutting Tennessee and Florida to finish the year with an 8-4 record.

Once again, Odom has his team in bowl contention, and in a slightly better bowl position than a year ago. In his third year as the Tigers’ head coach, Odom has his fingerprints all over recruiting. Next year will be the first year he has a full team of his own recruits.

Odom has built trust within his team; he’s inspired when inspiration was needed. Being a former player for Missouri, Odom knows the culture and the limits of change. While the Tigers’ defense has been shaky, it seemed to take another step in the right direction over the last quarter of this season.

A final thought on why Missouri should offer Odom an extension, is there are a lot of “retreads” in the SEC. They’re not all good, and some who aren’t a “retread,” are unproven. Many a comparison has been made to former Tigers’ basketball coach Kim Anderson, but the only real comparison there, is both he and Odom are Mizzou alumni. Odom is building a winning culture.