CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.-- Ryan Odom will be Virginia's new head coach of the men's basketball program, sources told CBS Sports' Matt Norlander. Odom is set to follow a very successful Tony Bennett era in Charlottesville. According to Norlander, an official announcement from Virginia will be made Saturday, per a source. Odom has already signed paperwork and will be headed to the ACC, a Wahoos247 source has also confirmed.
A source also tells Wahoos247 they expect a presser to be held early next week, likely on Monday.
VIP: More tidbits on Odom's staff, latest on local guard Chance Mallory
Odom is headed to Virginia after spending the last two seasons as VCU's head coach. He has a strong connection to Virginia, with his father, Dave Odom, being an assistant coach to Terry Holland in the 1980s. VCU fell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to BYU after receiving an automatic bid. Odom has now taken three programs --- UMBC, Utah State, and VCU --- to the NCAA Tournament within two years of taking over a program. Odom is also familiar with Virginia fans since he was UMBC's head coach when they upset No. 1 Virginia in the tournament.
NC State and Villanova were also two programs connected with Odom in the last few weeks.
It's a hard job to follow one of the greatest coaches in university history. Bennett spent the past 15 seasons as head coach at Virginia, leading the program to its first national championship in 2019. He had signed a contract extension that would have kept him with the Cavaliers through the 2029-2030 season.
He was among the top-10 highest-paid college basketball coaches during the 2022-23 season with a total salary of more than $4.8 million, but his pay dropped to slightly above $4 million for the 2023-24 campaign.
Bennett's decision to step down comes less than three weeks before the Cavaliers were set to open the 2024-25 season against Campbell on Nov. 6. Ron Sanchez was named the interim head coach after Bennett stepped down. The program announced they were going a different direction soon after Virginia's exit from the ACC Tournament.
Get the latest football and basketball transfer portal news from 247Sports.
With Odom on the clock, all the attention now turns to the NCAA basketball transfer portal. The Cavaliers already have two players, Blake Buchanan and Dai Dai Ames, expected to enter the portal, however, that number is expected to increase.
Technically, players can enter the NCAA transfer portal at any time. But unless they do so within their sport's official "windows," they will have to sit out one season. The college basketball transfer portal window will be open for 30 days, opening up on March 24 and closing on April 22 - athletes will also be given a 30-day window to transfer after a head coach's departure.
A player can still remove their name from the portal and stay at their respective program even after entering the portal - so Odom does have a chance to recruit back any of Virginia's players that enter the portal.
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