Barry Odom couldn’t break through in the SEC in four years at Mizzou: a timeline
Here’s a timeline of Barry Odom’s tenure as Missouri’s head football coach:
Dec. 3, 2015
Odom, who played linebacker for the Tigers from 1996-99 and served on Gary Pinkel’s staff for nine years in various roles starting in 2003, is hired as Pinkel’s successor. Odom spent the 2015 season as Missouri’s defensive coordinator after three years at Memphis.
Athletic director Mack Rhoades, who hired Odom, wasn’t around for the new coach’s first game. Rhoades left for Baylor in July 2016. Among others Rhoades reportedly interviewed for the top football job at MU: Air Force coach Troy Calhoun, Utah State coach Matt Wells and Colorado State coach Mike Bobo.
Odom’s hire generally played to good reviews. The end of the 2015 season was hectic for Missouri. Pinkel had announced in November that was battling follicular lymphoma and was stepping down at the end of the season. Also, MU football players made themselves part of a campus protest against racism and threatened to boycott a game.
2016
Jim Sterk, who had tenures at San Diego State, Washington State and Portland State, was named the new Missouri athletic director on Aug. 9.
The Tigers finished 4-8 in Odom’s first season, their most losses in a season since 2000. Mizzou won two of its final three games as quarterback Drew Lock completed his sophomore season.
2017
After beating Missouri State in the season opener, Mizzou dropped the next five. After a blowout loss to Auburn, Odom declared, “We will win. This is a turnaround. Any way you slice it or dice it or want to look at it, this is a turnaround process. And unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I’m built for this because I’ve been through a whole heckuva lot of them my entire life.”
The Tigers did turn it around that season, ending the regular season on a six-game winning streak, which included decisive victories over Florida and Tennessee. The Tigers fell to Texas in the Texas Bowl to finish 7-6.
2018
The first half of the season again frustrates Odom and the Tigers, who stood 4-4 entering November. But a 38-17 victory at No. 13 Florida began a four-game winning streak to conclude the regular season. Mizzou, which entered the AP poll for the first time under Odom (No. 24) fell to Oklahoma State in the Liberty Bowl in Lock’s final appearance as the Tigers’ starting quarterback. They finished 8-5.
Before the bowl game, Missouri gave Odom a two-year contract extension through 2024 and raised his base pay to $3.05 million.
Also, two days after accepting the bowl bid, the Tigers landed Kelly Bryant, the transfer quarterback who led Clemson to the College Football Playoff title game the previous season.
2019
In January, Missouri was hit with sanctions that included a bowl game ban when the NCAA concluded a former tutor completed math work for 12 athletes in three different sports, including football, in 2015 and 2016. Missouri appealed the sanctions but learned in late November that the penalties were upheld.
Picked to finish third in the SEC East, Missouri opened with a pratfall, losing at Wyoming. But the Tigers responded with a five-game winning streak and at one point were the only team without a loss in the division.
But the season turned sour with a loss at Vanderbilt as a 21-point favorite. That started a five-game losing streak. The Tigers were held to an average of 9.4 points per game in the stretch.
Missouri broke its losing streak and won its season finale at Arkansas Friday to finish 6-6. The next day, Saturday, Odom was fired.
His final record at MU: 25-25 overall, 13-19 in the SEC.
This story was originally published November 30, 2019 at 11:52 AM.