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New coach Barry Odom makes quick, but not radical changes at Mizzou
By John Brasier
Published:
In this first 17 days, Barry Odom has shown that his reign as Mizzou coach won’t be a mere continuation of Gary Pinkel’s tenure.
Highly successful defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski, a longtime Pinkel assistant, is gone. So is strength and conditioning Pat Ivey, a Mizzou alum. Both departures were somewhat of a disappointing surprise to many Mizzou supporters.
So is offensive coordinator Josh Henson and offensive line coach A.J. Ricker.
But Odom didn’t go totally out of the box for his top two assistants. He hired former Mizzou teammate DeMontie Cross from Texas Christian as defensive coordinator. He brought in Josh Heupel, a longtime Oklahoma assistant familiar with the Tigers program, from Utah State as offensive coordinator.
The hires make sense. Cross has obvious Mizzou ties. Heupel, a Heisman runner-up as a quarterback at Oklahoma, should provide an excellent mentor for rising sophomore QB Drew Lock.
Heupel coached No. 1 NFL Draft pick Sam Bradford and Landry Jones with the Sooners. He was offensive coordinator at Utah State this season. Cross, who coached five seasons with the Buffalo Bills, was co-defensive coordinator at TCU.
Ivey reportedly advised Mizzou athletes to take action against perceived inequality on campus in an athletics department seminar two weeks before Mizzou players threatened not to play until school president Tim Wolfe resigned.
Odom has the backing of Pinkel, who campaigned for him to athletic director Mack Rhoades.
The new coach retained running backs coach Cornell Ford and brought in safeties coach Ryan Walters, who worked with him at Mizzou and Memphis. He also kept longtime assistant Andy Hill, moving him from quarterbacks coach to receivers coach.
Keeping Ford and Hill should benefit recruiting. Ford recruited St. Louis for Pinkel, while Hill recruited Kansas City. Cross is a St. Louis native.
Mizzou’s recruiting philosophy may have already changed. Earlier during the day he was officially announced as coach, Odom offered Columbia high school fullback Hayden Johnson, who had committed to Arkansas, a scholarship.
Odom has already gotten commitments from OL Tre’vour Simms, who had committed to Illinois, and highly recruited DE Marvin Terry from Dallas.
The new coach has drawn wide-spread praise for his recruiting ability, including endorsements from former players such at T.J. Moe.
Odom must rebuild the Tigers’ offensive line and receiving corps, two glaring weaknesses in the past season.
