South Carolina Basketball: Ranking the best head coaches in Gamecock history
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina Basketball’s No. 5 Greatest Head Coach of All-Time:
Dave Odom
Dave Odom (2001-2008) left Wake Forest to come to South Carolina and instill some energy back into the program that had disappeared at the end of the Eddie Fogler era. A 22-15 record in Odom’s first year was not enough to put the Gamecocks in the NCAA Tournament, but Carolina made a run all the way to the championship game of the NIT.
The ’02-’03 season was a struggle, but the Gamecocks made the NCAA Tournament the next year after winning 23 games. The next two seasons saw Carolina win 20 and 23 games, respectively, but the team missed the Tourney both years. A silver lining was that Odom’s squad won the NIT in both seasons.
Age caught up to Odom after the three-straight 20-win campaigns. South Carolina basketball won just 14 games each of the next two seasons before Odom retired. He retired as having the second-most 20-win seasons in program history behind Frank McGuire.