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FAYETTEVILLE — Perhaps no coach in the SEC has a more daunting task than the one facing Barry Odom in 2020.
The first-year Arkansas defensive coordinator inherits a unit that somehow got worse under SEC veteran John Chavis, falling to historic levels in both scoring (36.8 ppg) and total (450.7 ypg) defense last season.
That may have been the low point, but it certainly wasn’t an outlier. The Razorbacks’ six worst defenses in terms of yards allowed per game have occurred in the previous eight years - with each of their five defensive coordinators over that span leading at least one of them. Even including its top-10 defense in 2014, Arkansas has given up 30.7 points and 407.5 yards per game since 2012.
All of that adds up to quite the challenge, but the former Missouri head coach seemed ready for it in an interview with Pig Trail Nation last week.
“The message I gave the guys I had an opportunity to talk to Sunday night (Jan. 12) in our team meeting: Don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t care what went on here before,” Odom said. “It’s a blank sheet of paper and let’s go write our story together.”
The good news for Arkansas is that Odom has experience taking over a defense in a similar situation.
Memphis had one of the worst defenses in the country in 2011, giving up 35.1 points and 491.0 yards per game. Those figures ranked 105th and 117th, respectively, out of 120 FBS teams at the time.
Upon Odom’s arrival as defensive coordinator, the Tigers steadily improved each year. They ranked 80th (30.3 ppg) and 51st (383.6 ypg) in those categories in his first season, and then jumped up to 44th (24.6 ppg) and 39th (370.7) in 2013.
By Year 3 in his system, Memphis had one of the best defenses in the country. Odom’s unit allowed just 19.5 points and 349.5 yards per game, which ranked 11th and 28th nationally, respectively. In that short time, Odom improved the Tigers’ scoring defense by 44.4 percent and their total defense by 28.8 percent.
“It’s going to take hard work, it’s going to take grit and strain, but it also can be and will be the most rewarding experience these guys have been through from an athletic standpoint,” Odom said about the challenging facing Arkansas’ defense. “They are hungry, they want to have success. We’re going to give them the road map on how to do that.”
If the Razorbacks mirror that, they’d give up just 20.4 points and 320.8 yards per game in 2022. Those figures would have ranked 24th and 19th nationally last season.
However, much like head coach Sam Pittman, he was hesitant to put a timeline on how long that process will take. Understandably so, because the SEC West is a completely different animal than Conference USA and The American, the conferences in which he orchestrated Memphis’ turnaround.
“It’s not going to be easy, it’s not going to happen overnight, but I’ve got very strong conviction on what it takes and how it’s going to get done and we’ll get there,” Odom said. “I’d love to say a timetable of how that’s going to happen, but we need to take it one day at a time and make sure our habits are where they need to be that day.”
