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New VCU head coach Ryan Odom is the son of former Wake Forest head coach Dave Odom, but the younger Odom is most frequently remembered for something else.
Ryan Odom was the coach at Maryland-Baltimore County when UMBC became the first No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 seed (UVa) in the NCAA tournament, a feat repeated this year by Fairleigh Dickinson University in its victory over Purdue.
Odom succeeds Mike Rhoades, who resigned to take the head-coaching job at Penn State, which has awarded him a seven-year contract worth $25.9 million.
Rhoades succeeds Micah Shrewsberry, who was 37-31 over three seasons at Penn State, which made one NCAA Tournament appearance during his tenure.
Rhoades also had a head-coaching stint at Rice during his career.
It was Shrewsberry’s decision to leave Penn State as he took over the head coaching job at Notre Dame, where he is replacing Mike Bray.
It has been speculated that one or more Penn State players could be following Shrewsberry to Notre Dame. The Nittany Lions were 23-14 this past season.
In addition to former Syracuse player Adrian Autry replacing former coach Jim Boeheim at Syracuse, Damon Stoudamire is the successor to Josh Pastner at Georgia Tech.
Stoudamire, an assistant with the Boston Celtics from 2021-23, is Georgia Tech’s fifth head coach since Bobby Cremins in 2000.
Recruiting
One of the most highly coveted men’s basketball targets in the Transfer Portal is a Virginian, 7-foot-1 Hunter Dickinson from the University of Michigan.
Dickinson, a two-time All-Big Ten selection, was born in Alexandria and later played at DeMatha in Hyattsville, Md. before heading to Michigan, where he was the Big Ten freshman of the year and started in 89 games over three seasons.
Kentucky is seen as one of the top teams to beat for Dickinson.
Bouncing around
Justin McKoy, who transferred to North Carolina after two seasons at Virginia, is now headed to Hawaii after two years with the Tar Heels.
McKoy never averaged more than 3.5 points per game in any of his ACC seasons to date. He played 5.3 minutes per game last year.
McKoy went to Panther Creek High School in Cary, N.C., where one of his teammates was Juan Munoz, who he will be rejoining in Hawaii.
Keydets on the move
In its 11-10 victory at Canisius this past weekend, the VMI men’s lacrosse team, which plays in its MAAC in lacrosse, enjoyed its first conference road win since 2009.
VMI previously had gone 2-14 against the Golden Griffins.
In its first season under new men’s basketball coach Andrew Wilson, VMI attempted 880 3-point field goals this year, connecting on 309 for a .351 average.
Asher Woods, a 6-3 freshman from Newnan, Ga., had a team-leading 14.2 points per game, with senior Sean Conway next at 12.1.
Recruit
Virginia has taken a football commitment from Benjamin “Big Ben” York, a 6-foot-5, 286-pound offensive lineman from Lake Braddock in Burke, Va.