Ex-Missouri coach Barry Odom lands on Arkansas staff to serve as Razorbacks defensive coordinator
Odom spent the past four seasons as the head coach of the Tigers

Arkansas coach Sam Pittman announced Friday that he has hired former Missouri coach Barry Odom as his defensive coordinator. Odom went 25-25 in four seasons as the head coach of the Tigers from 2016-19. The hiring was announced as Odom was en route to his new home.

"I'm ecstatic that he's in his car, headed down to Fayetteville as we speak," Pittman said on the SEC Network. "I felt like I needed a guy on my staff that had been a head coach -- one that I could lean on and talk to. There's really not a better person out there, and a finer coach and a finer man than Barry Odom. I'm just blessed that he's in his car coming down here."

Pittman has never served as a head coach at the major college level. In fact, the 58-year-old's last stint as a head coach came from 1992-93 with Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College. It's imperative for anybody in his situation to have somebody on the headset who can relate to the in-game management and assist with program organization.

On the field, there might not be a better candidate out there to coordinate the Razorbacks defense. Odom's Tigers finished fifth in the SEC in defensive yards per play at 4.86 and defensive red zone touchdown percentage at 51.61 percent this season. 

His success as a defensive coordinator throughout his career has been hard to ignore. Odom was Missouri's defensive coordinator in 2015 when the Tigers finished third in the nation in defensive yards per play at 4.32. When he was the defensive coordinator on Justin Fuente's staff at Memphis, the Tigers went from 116th in the 120-team FBS in defensive yards per play prior to his arrival to 10th in his final season in 2014.

SOURCE: Sallee, Barrett. "Ex-Missouri coach Barry Odom lands on Arkansas staff to serve as Razorbacks defensive coordinator." CBSSports.com, 13 December 2019, https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/ex-missouri-coach-barry-odom-lands-on-arkansas-staff-to-serve-as-razorbacks-defensive-coordinator/