UMBC athletic director prepared to do all he can to keep Ryan Odom

Ryan Odom will be a hot coaching name coming off UMBC’s historic NCAA Tournament win, and their athletic director will make every effort to keep him.

It’s one thing for a No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 seed for the first time in NCAA Tournament history. Then there’s what UMBC did to Virginia last Friday night, with a decisive 74-54 win to make history. The Retrievers’ tournament run ended Sunday night with a 50-43 loss to Kansas State, but coach Ryan Odom is now sure to be a candidate for a more prominent job.

According to ESPN’s Jeff Goodman, UMBC athletic director Tim Hall is prepared to offer Odom a long-term contract with an increase in salary. Hall is aware of the limits his “realm” has.

“We need to do within our realm what we can,” Hall said Sunday. “We obviously can’t do what the Power 5 schools can do, or anything near that. I think at some point Ryan wants to do it on a bigger stage. I’m just hoping it’s down the road instead of now.”

Odom has a 46-24 record over two seasons at UMBC. Before that he was head coach at Lenoir Rhyne in Division II in 2015-16, and the interim head coach at Charlotte at the end of the 2014-15 season.

Odom’s father Dave was head coach at Wake Forest (1989-2001) and South Carolina (2001-2008). But the 43-year old has built his own resume as a coach, most notably with a stint (2003-2010) as an assistant under Seth Greenberg at Virginia Tech.

Odom signed a seven-year contract with a $230,000 annual base salary when he was hired at UMBC. The school just opened a $90 million arena in February, so an increase in resources could help the upcoming new contract offer to keep Odom from entertaining an immediate move to a Power 5 school.

Next: 5 candidates to replace Kevin Ollie at UConn

Now, or definitely down the road if UMBC keeps having success, Hall knows those particular big school dogs will be howling at his men’s basketball coach’s door.