COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -South Carolina coach Dave Odom will retire at the end of the season, saying Friday “I’m on the back end of not only my career, but my life.”
The 65-year-old Odom will finish his seventh season at South Carolina, where he never had the same success he saw in 12 years at Wake Forest.
“I’m not at the end, but I can see it,” Odom said at a news conference. “Truly, I’m on the back end of not only my career, but my life.”
Odom led the Gamecocks to the NCAA tournament in 2004 and back-to-back NIT titles the following years. Recently, he has come under criticism for the team’s ragged and inconsistent play – the Gamecocks are 9-8 overall and 1-2 in the Southeastern Conference.
Odom said athletic director Eric Hyman wanted him to serve the final years of his contract through 2010. However, the coach thought ceding the program to someone new would be best for his players.
Odom said pressure from critics was not the reason for his departure.
“There will be those, through you (the media), who will stick their chest out and say ‘We got it done. We were loud and we were angry and our voice was heard and a change was made,”’ Odom said. “And I will tell you without any fear of contradiction, those people could not be further from the truth.”
Hyman would not talk about his upcoming search. “This is Dave’s day,” he said.
Odom has had four 20-win seasons with South Carolina, the last in 2005-06.
Despite going 14-16 a year ago, Odom expected this team to make the NCAA tournament.
South Carolina’s early play left that in doubt. The Gamecocks dropped close games to North Carolina State and George Mason in November. They blew a 20-point lead at home to Baylor, had to rally from 15 points behind to defeat College of Charleston and were outscored 10-0 down the stretch in a demoralizing 61-58 loss to North Carolina-Asheville at home.
They started 0-2 in the SEC for the third straight year before beating Arkansas on Wednesday.
The win left Odom 401-268 in 22 years as coach of South Carolina, Wake Forest (1990-2001) and East Carolina (1980-82).
Odom came to South Carolina before the 2001-02 season after 12 years at Wake Forest. He reached the NCAA tournament eight times, was chosen Atlantic Coast Conference coach of the year three times and coached standouts Tim Duncan, Rodney Rogers and Randolph Childress.
He took South Carolina to the finals of the 2002 NIT, where it lost to Memphis. Two years later, the Gamecocks made their only NCAA trip, also losing to Memphis in a first-round game. South Carolina followed with two NIT championships.
Odom’s teams have struggled in the SEC, their best record coming in 2004 at 8-8. The Gamecocks are 37-62 in Odom’s seven SEC seasons so far.
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