College Football Coaching Changes: Ranking the best hires

14. Missouri Tigers – Barry Odom replaces Gary Pinkel

It wasn’t how Barry Odom drew it up, but he’s replacing Gary Pinkel who had to retire due to a cancer diagnosis after 15 years at Missouri. Odom was promoted from his defensive coordinator position after one season back at his alma mater after serving as the defensive coordinator at Memphis under Justin Fuente.

Missouri was linked to sitting head coaches, Matt Rhule, Tom Herman, Matt Wells and Sonny Dykes who all would have come with less risk than Odom who has zero head coaching experience. However, none of them embody what it means to be a part of the Missouri program and represent the brand that Pinkel worked so hard to make so special.

He’ll continue to field great defenses and future NFL Draft picks at Missouri, but it’ll be interesting to see how he learns how to be a head coach in the SEC on the fly. What should help him is the longest-tenured head coaches in the SEC are Kentucky’s Mark Stoops and Tennessee’s Butch Jones at three years, so it won’t be as daunting as you may think.

Next: Willie Fritz