"We have to prepare to put together a championship roster and one that we're all going to be proud of and we have to get to work once it's done," said Ryan Odom in his introductor

Odom, 50, spent a chunk of his childhood in Charlottesville while his father, Dave, served as an assistant coach under Terry Holland from 1982 to 1989. The younger Odom would often get home from school and ride his bicycle to University Hall to watch the Cavaliers practice.

Unlike UVA basketball’s most recent hire, Tony Bennett in 2009, Odom was the subject of immediate media and fan speculation when Bennett abruptly retired in October, thrusting Ron Sanchez into an interim head-coaching role for 2024-25.