Official: Pittman tabs former Mizzou head coach Barry Odom as Hogs' DC

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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas and Missouri’s corporate-sponsored Battle Line Rivalry that the two schools manufactured a few years ago will have an interesting twist in 2020.

Less than two weeks after being fired as the Tigers’ head coach, Barry Odom has been hired as the Razorbacks’ defensive coordinator, head coach Sam Pittman announced live during a Paul Finebaum Show interview Friday afternoon.

Odom brings four years of SEC head coaching experience to first-year head coach Sam Pittman’s staff, as he compiled a 25-25 record at Missouri, his alma mater. After improving his win totals from four to seven to eight in his first three years, he and the Tigers went 6-6 with NCAA sanctions looming over their heads this season.

Despite snapping a five-game losing streak with a 24-14 win over the Razorbacks in the season finale at War Memorial Stadium, Odom was fired the following day and eventually replaced by Appalachian State head coach Eliah Drinkwitz - an Arkansas native.

In addition to his time as a head coach, Odom also has four years of defensive coordinator experience at the FBS level.

From 2012-14, he was at Memphis and steadily built the Tigers’ defense into one of the best in the country. Inheriting a unit that ranked 105th in scoring defense at 35.1 points allowed per game, Odom’s defenses were ranked 80th (30.3 ppg) in 2012, 44th (24.6 ppg) in 2013 and 11th (19.5 ppg) in 2014.

That led to him landing the defensive coordinator job at Missouri. His alma mater was already good on that side of the ball, ranking 19th in scoring defense the year before, but Odom took it to an elite level. The Tigers allowed just 16.2 points per game, which ranked fifth nationally, despite going 5-7 with only one SEC win.

When Gary Pinkel retired at the end of that season, Odom was promoted to head coach. His first two defenses in that position struggled, but improved to 50th last season (25.5 ppg) and 17th this season (19.4 ppg).

His firing following the season marked the end of 18 total seasons he had spent at the school. Odom’s time in Columbia, Mo., began a standout linebacker for the Tigers from 1996-99, serving as a team captain as a senior.

After a year as an assistant at Ada, Okla., High - his alma mater - in 2000 and a two-year stint as the head coach at Rock Bridge High in Columbia from 2001-02, Odom rejoined Missouri as an administrative graduate assistant in 2003.

A six-year run on that side of things - which included two years as Director of Recruiting and three years as Director of Football Operations - ended when he returned to the field as the Tigers’ safeties coach from 2009-11.

Although their time at Missouri didn’t overlap, as Pittman’s lone season as the Tigers’ offensive line coach was 2000, the pair are close friends and both coaches grew up in Oklahoma.

Speculation has swirled that they might finally work on the same staff in Fayetteville since Pittman was announced as the head coach. Just four days earlier, Pittman responded to Odom’s message on Twitter thanking the people for his time at Missouri by calling him “one heck of a man and coach” and writing he was “proud to say he is a dear friend.”

Odom will be tasked with fixing what was statistically the worst defense in school history this season. The Razorbacks allowed 36.8 points (124th in FBS) on 450.7 yards (111th in FBS) per game, with opponents torching them through the air - completing a UA-worst 66.6 percent of their passes (126th in FBS) - and on the ground - rushing for 221.5 yards per game (121st in FBS), the most against Arkansas since 1954.

He will be the Razorbacks’ fourth defensive coordinator in the last five seasons and fifth in the last eight seasons, following John Chavis (2018-19), Paul Rhoads (2017), Robb Smith (2014-16) and Chris Ash (2013). The previous four are responsible for the five worst defenses - in terms of yards allowed - in school history.

This would be the third known addition to Pittman’s staff at Arkansas, with the first actually being a member of Odom’s staff at Missouri - offensive line coach Brad Davis - and the second being a holdover from Chad Morris' staff in wide receivers coach Justin Stepp.

Two other coaches from Morris’ staff have also been on the road recruiting for the Razorbacks - defensive line coach Steve Caldwell and safeties coach Ron Cooper - and could potentially be retained.