As the offseason progresses (all of one week so far), Justin Fuente and Whit Babcock have narrowed in on one name at the top of the board to become the Hokies' new defensive coordinator: outgoing Missouri head coach Barry Odom. The 43-year old Odom was dismissed after a disappointing tenure in Columbia, but has connections to Fuente as his defensive coordinator three years at the University of Memphis.
Odom checks a lot of boxes, including that past link to Fuente. Of course, having worked with someone isn't necessarily a requirement, but having a knowledge of how he'd fit in with the current staff, how his scheme follows naturally from Bud Foster's into a new era, etc. My understanding is that Fuente appreciates his professional relationship with Odom (even though they may not be the closest personally).
Sources in Blacksburg and those close to Odom indicate that a job offer is on the table. There are varying levels of "job offer," of course: from an informal indication that you're the top man on the board to a contract just waiting to be signed. This sounds closer to the former (but somewhere in the middle) as the Hokies want to vet a few other candidates and wait for some national dominoes to fall before sealing the deal officially.
As for rumors that Fuente will seriously consider the Arkansas job - or even the Missouri job that Odom departed - it sounds like there's not a ton of smoke there. While you never write anything off completely without some form of contract extension, Fuente's intention is to see out the rebuilding project after suffering through the two roughest years of it. That a coordinator hire seems to be close - if not imminent - would be another tea leaf indicating that situation.
Stay tuned, as nothing is completely done here, but all indications are there might not be much of a wait to find out who the next DC is, unless there's a change of heart and it ends up being someone other than Odom.
Odom checks a lot of boxes, including that past link to Fuente. Of course, having worked with someone isn't necessarily a requirement, but having a knowledge of how he'd fit in with the current staff, how his scheme follows naturally from Bud Foster's into a new era, etc. My understanding is that Fuente appreciates his professional relationship with Odom (even though they may not be the closest personally).
Sources in Blacksburg and those close to Odom indicate that a job offer is on the table. There are varying levels of "job offer," of course: from an informal indication that you're the top man on the board to a contract just waiting to be signed. This sounds closer to the former (but somewhere in the middle) as the Hokies want to vet a few other candidates and wait for some national dominoes to fall before sealing the deal officially.
As for rumors that Fuente will seriously consider the Arkansas job - or even the Missouri job that Odom departed - it sounds like there's not a ton of smoke there. While you never write anything off completely without some form of contract extension, Fuente's intention is to see out the rebuilding project after suffering through the two roughest years of it. That a coordinator hire seems to be close - if not imminent - would be another tea leaf indicating that situation.
Stay tuned, as nothing is completely done here, but all indications are there might not be much of a wait to find out who the next DC is, unless there's a change of heart and it ends up being someone other than Odom.
