CHARLOTTESVILLE —Tony Bennett and Ryan Odom are coaches’ kids of similar vintage. Each set 3-point shooting records in college. Both earned championships and prematurely gray hair after entering the family business.
Where they diverge is the new paradigm of college sports, one defined by athlete compensation and transfer freedom.
Odom embraced the seismic changes. Bennett resisted and, eventually, retired.
This stark contrast came into focus Monday, when Odom was introduced as the University of Virginia’s new head basketball coach, tasked with returning the Cavaliers to the national prominence they experienced for much of Bennett’s 15 seasons, prominence symbolized by the 2019 national championship banner that hung over Odom’s head in the John Paul Jones Arena rafters.
Each man’s response was steeped in self-awareness.
Bennett, 55, knew he was incapable of adjusting to constant roster upheaval and salary drama. The traditional program management tenets he learned playing for his father, Dick Bennett, at Wisconsin-Green Bay no longer applied.
Odom, 50, has adapted while still adhering to an overarching academic mission he appreciates as a former Division III athlete at Hampden-Sydney. The son of former UVA assistant and Wake Forest coach Dave Odom, he has thrived at two programs since the 2021 advent of name, image and likeness compensation.
“He had done a really good job at Utah State and VCU in this new era,” Virginia athletic director Carla Williams said, “and so that was a meaningful part of the decision. … He’s a proven winner that is familiar with the changing landscape and what’s needed in the transfer portal and how to get there and what to do.”
In two seasons with each program, Odom and his staff — strength coach Mike Curtis may be the lone holdover from the Bennett regime — meshed high school, international and transfer recruiting to build teams that in Year 2 reached the NCAA Tournament.
Key players such as Brandon Horvath (UMBC to Utah State) and Max Shulga (Utah State to VCU) accompanied Odom on previous moves, and some VCU players likely will follow him to Virginia. Odom has also struck gold with one-year transfers like Taylor Funk in 2022-23 at Utah State and Jack Clark this season at VCU.
“I think you have to have a healthy balance (in recruiting),” Odom said, stressing the relational side of the player-coach dynamic.
“That’s what coaching is all about,” he said. “It’s about relationships. It’s about being on a team. There’s nothing better than being on a team. It’s the closest thing to a family.
“All the successful organizations that are out there, the one common thread is the people. The people are connected. The people are smart. The people look after one another, and the people are competitive.”
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At Virginia, Odom joins an athletic department undergoing an epiphany.
With the antiquated model of fundraising solely for scholarships and infrastructure a recipe for defeat, UVA has pivoted to significantly enhancing athlete compensation.
“We’ve had to shift the culture to one that has two feet in on competing at this level,” Williams said. “… We’ve been able to secure the funds to have a top-10 program.”
Williams credited associate AD for development and former Cavaliers star Barry Parkhill with a “lion’s share” of the fundraising, which will help to finance the two buckets of athlete compensation expected from a joint settlement of three antitrust lawsuits brought against the NCAA and power conferences by former athletes.
If approved by a federal judge next month, the settlement would permit, not require, Division I schools to share as much as $20.5 million of revenue annually with athletes. Moreover, the settlement would create a clearinghouse to monitor outside NIL deals for fair market value, and establish an enforcement arm empowered to sanction schools that exceed the revenue sharing cap.
Williams believes the outside firms running the clearinghouse and monitoring NIL contracts, Deloitte and LBi Software, give college athletics “a real chance now to have those guardrails and level the playing field.”
UVA athletic director Carla Williams says the school has shifted the culture to fund athlete compensation. (Photo courtesy of UVA Athletics)The current unregulated market for athlete compensation has frustrated administrators and coaches at every level.
“That’s good for Virginia, if there are guardrails,” Williams said.
While peers such as North Carolina have made some compensation figures public — football coach Bill Belichick’s contract pledges $13 million of UNC’s $20.5 million revenue share to his roster — Williams declined to reveal specifics about Virginia’s funding for men’s basketball, or any sport, and said they won’t be written into Odom’s yet-to-be-finalized contract.
“We’ve talked about it,” Williams said. “That’s where trust is important. We’ve been very, very good at protecting the athletes’ privacy, and we’re going to continue to do that.”
Most power conference schools are expected to reserve 60-70% of revenue sharing for football, 15-20% for men’s basketball. That translates to $3-4 million in revenue sharing for men’s basketball, plus NIL contracts.
“We’re in a very, very good place with NIL and also rev share,” Williams said. “Not to mention the culture shift. There’s a culture shift for all of college athletics, and we’re no different.”
As the business transitions to a professional model, many programs have hired general managers to oversee talent acquisition, contract negotiations and outside NIL. Rachel Baker with Duke basketball and Michael Lombardi with North Carolina football are prime examples.
Williams said deputy athletic directors Wally Walker, Armani Dawkins and Tyler Jones shoulder those responsibilities in men’s basketball, women’s basketball and football, respectively. A former NBA general manager, Walker will relinquish those duties to a titled GM in the near future.
“This is not our old amateur college athletics,” Williams said. “This is a completely new industry. So, we have been transitioning (to give) our coaches, particularly in football and men’s and women’s basketball, what they need to compete for championships.”
David Teel, david.teel@virginiamedia.com
