Dave Odom
South Carolina coach Dave Odom gestures during the Gamecocks game against LSU in the first half during in the first round of the men's SEC basketball tournament in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta Wednesday, March 12, 2008. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
Former South Carolina men’s basketball coach Dave Odom defended his staff’s handling of academics, a day after a USC official talked up the team’s improvement since he left.
“Understanding that everyone has a right to their opinion, I would strongly resist the notion that our staff of coaches, and academic counselors were not as diligent as we needed to be,” Odom said Thursday.
Odom retired after last season and was replaced by Darrin Horn. The former coach said he was happy to hear his team was doing well academically, just as he was happy to see it do well on the court. And neither should be surprising, according to Odom, given the team’s experience level.
“I think there is a parallel in most student-athlete’s lives whereby they enter college as freshman, and they grow in every area including academics and athletics as they gain experience and get older,” Odom said. “Thus it’s reasonable to believe that they would have done better last year academically and I celebrate that fact along with my former staff.”
The Gamecocks were penalized the loss of a scholarship each of the past two seasons due to a low Academic Progress Rating, using figures that ran through the 2007-08 school year.
USC's APR improved to 909 from 899 in Odom's final two seasons but in each of those seasons, a player apparently left before his eligibility was up while not in good academic standing.
This school year was the first under Horn, and associate athletics director Val Sheley said Wednesday the team’s academic performance had improved.
“He has a different attitude when it comes to disciplining and making sure they go to class and so on,” Sheley said. “It’s amazing to us to have the same athletes perform so much better in the classroom this year than they did last year.”
Dwayne Day, the team’s only senior during Odom’s final year, graduated on time, and Odom recruited every player on this year’s team, which included two seniors and four juniors.
The former coach compared academic growth to athletic improvement.
“They should play better each year, and that’s the natural progress that you would hope would be consistent throughout your program. The same should be expected of their academic growth,” Odom said.
On the court, the Gamecocks finished 21-10 in their first year under Horn, and 10-6 in the SEC regular season. They won a share of the SEC East title, and swept Kentucky.
“Just as I’m happy they did well in the classroom, I’m happy that they did well in wins and losses,” Odom said. “I’m happy for the players, I’m happy for the coaches, I’m happy for the fans, I’m happy for the university.”
Reach Emerson at (803) 771-8676.
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