Barry Odom
Barry Odom went 49–47 on the field as a head coach, 2016–2026, at Missouri, UNLV and Purdue; 45–47 officially, after the NCAA vacated four wins (2016). Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 3–3); by them his record is 45–46. Share
- Record
- 45–47 official; 49–47 on the field
- Seasons
- 8
- Schools
- 3
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Nov 26, 1976
- Best season
- 2024 11–3
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missouri | 4–8 (0–8 official) | 7th | |||
| 2017 | Missouri | 7–6 | T–3rd | Texas Bowl L | ||
| 2018 | Missouri | 8–5 | T–4th | Liberty Bowl L | ||
| 2019 | Missouri | 6–6 | T–4th | |||
| 2020–22: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 2023 | UNLV | 9–5 | T–1st | Guaranteed Rate Bowl L | ||
| 2024 | UNLV | 10–3 | T–2nd | LA (not coached) | ||
| 2025 | Purdue | 2–10 | 18th | |||
| 2026 | Purdue | 3–4 (Wikipedia: 3–3) | ||||
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 19 | 1–18 | 5% |
| Against top-10 teams | 9 | 0–9 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 17 | 10–7 | 59% |
| Conference games | 60 | 27–33 | 45% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 3 | 0–3 | 0% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 28 | 11–17 | 39% |
| At home | 53 | 31–22 | 58% |
| On the road | 39 | 17–22 | 44% |
| At neutral sites | 4 | 1–3 | 25% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 52 | 39–13 | 75% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 44 | 10–34 | 23% |
His own 96 games on file, 2016–2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bret Bielema 2016–2026 | 3–1 | Arkansas, Illinois | 4 | |
| Derek Mason 2016–2019 | 3–1 | Vanderbilt | 4 | |
| Will Muschamp 2016–2019 | 1–3 | South Carolina | 4 | |
| Kirby Smart 2016–2019 | 0–4 | Georgia | 4 | |
| Mark Stoops 2016–2019 | 0–4 | Kentucky | 4 | |
| Craig Bohl 2018–2023 | 2–1 | Wyoming | 3 | |
| Spencer Danielson 2023–2024 | 0–3 | Boise State | 3 |
Barry Odom’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Vanderbiltseries | 5 | 4–1 |
| Arkansasseries | 4 | 4–0 |
| Floridaseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Tennesseeseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| South Carolinaseries | 4 | 1–3 |
| Georgiaseries | 4 | 0–4 |
| Kentuckyseries | 4 | 0–4 |
| Wyomingseries | 3 | 2–1 |
How he was hired
- Hired by Missouri for the 2016 season from Missouri, where he was defensive coordinator. He had a prior connection to the school.
- Hired by Purdue for the 2025 season from UNLV, where he was head coach.
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Ada (OK) high school | Assistant coach | |
| 2001–02 | Rock Bridge (MO) high school | Head coach | |
| 2003 | Missouri | Graduate assistant | |
| 2004–05 | Missouri | Director of recruiting | |
| 2006–08 | Missouri | DFP | |
| 2009–11 | Missouri | Safeties coach | |
| 2012–14 | Memphis | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2015 | Missouri | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2016–19 | Missouri | Head coach | |
| 2020–22 | Arkansas | Assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| 2023–24 | UNLV | Head coach | |
| 2025–present | Purdue | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Gary PinkelMissouri
- Justin FuenteMemphis
- Sam PittmanArkansas
Assistants who became head coaches
- Josh HeupelUCF, Tennessee
- Ryan WaltersPurdue
- Brad DavisLSU
- Derek DooleyLouisiana Tech, Tennessee
- Garrick McGeeUAB
- David GibbsHouston
- Brennan MarionSacramento State
- Dave SteckelMissouri State
Worked under (3)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gary Pinkel | Missouri | 2003–15 | 2003: graduate assistant; 2004–05: director of recruiting; 2006–08: DFP; 2009–11: safeties coach; 2015: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Justin Fuente | Memphis | 2012–14 | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Sam Pittman | Arkansas | 2020–22 | Assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and safeties coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (8)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Heupel | Missouri, 2016–17: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | UCF, Tennessee | |
| Ryan Walters | Missouri, 2016–17: co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach; 2018–19: defensive coordinator and safeties coach | Purdue | |
| Brad Davis | Missouri, 2018–19: offensive line coach | LSU | |
| Derek Dooley | Missouri, 2018–19: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Louisiana Tech, Tennessee | |
| Garrick McGee | Missouri, 2018: analyst; 2019: wide receivers coach | UAB | |
| David Gibbs | Missouri, 2019: defensive backs coach | Houston | |
| Brennan Marion | UNLV, 2023–24: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Sacramento State | |
| Dave Steckel | Purdue, 2026: defensive assistant | Missouri State |
Other assistants under him (14)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| DeMontie Cross | Missouri, 2016–17: defensive coordinator | |
| Greg Brown | Missouri, 2016: cornerbacks coach | |
| Joe Jon Finley | Missouri, 2016–18: tight ends coach | |
| Joey Halzle | Missouri, 2016: offensive assistant and asst.QB | |
| Brian Odom | Missouri, 2017–18: outside linebackers coach | |
| Brick Haley | Missouri, 2017–19: defensive line coach | |
| Ted Monachino | Missouri, 2018: senior defensive analyst | |
| Michael Scherer | Missouri, 2019: graduate assistant; UNLV, 2023–24: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach; Purdue, 2025: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Tony Petersen | Missouri, 2019: offensive analyst | |
| Akeem Davis | UNLV, 2023–24: cornerbacks coach | |
| Bojay Filimoeatu | UNLV, 2023: defensive line coach | |
| Darin Hinshaw | Purdue, 2025–26: quarterbacks coach | |
| Josh Henson | Purdue, 2025–26: offensive coordinator and tight ends coach | |
| Kevin Kane | Purdue, 2026: defensive coordinator |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Missouri | head coachbonuses up to $1,025,000; $162,500 in bonuses paid; buyout $1,462,500 | $2,350,000 USA Today | |
| 2016 | Missouri | head coachbonuses up to $1,025,000 | $2,350,000 USA Today | |
| 2015 | Missouri | defensive coordinatorbonuses up to $213,750 | $625,000 USA Today | |
| 2014 | Memphis | defensive coordinatorbonuses up to $31,009 | $372,113 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Odom’s teams went for it on 20% of fourth downs and on 32% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 47% of plays and took 23.5 seconds a play, 2016–2026.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 12 g | Missouri | 25 of 102 25% | 35% | 49% | 18.0 | +0.07 | |
| 2017 13 g | Missouri | 10 of 87 11% | 18% | 48% | 20.7 | +0.13 | |
| 2018 13 g | Missouri | 16 of 100 16% | 21% | 46% | 23.4 | +0.11 | |
| 2019 12 g | Missouri | 13 of 104 13% | 24% | 47% | 24.6 | −0.05 | |
| 2023 14 g | UNLV | 20 of 96 21% | 33% | 46% | 23.8 | +0.11 | |
| 2024 14 g | UNLV | 24 of 111 22% | 38% | 37% | 26.1 | +0.12 | |
| 2025 12 g | Purdue | 25 of 93 27% | 48% | 55% | 25.1 | −0.01 | |
| 2026 7 g | Purdue | 13 of 49 27% | 43% | 53% | 28.1 | +0.11 | |
| All 97 g | 146 of 742 20% | 32% | 47% | 23.5 | +0.07 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.