Ex-Charlotte 49ers assistant Ryan Odom named basketball coach at Lenoir-Rhyne

Former Charlotte 49ers interim basketball coach Ryan Odom was named men’s coach at Lenoir-Rhyne on Tuesday, athletics director Neill McGeachy announced.

Odom, 40, is the NCAA Division II school’s 17th basketball coach. He succeeds John Lentz, who resigned after 29 years.

Odom spent five seasons at Charlotte, where he was an assistant to coach Alan Majors. He was promoted to associate head coach in May 2014 and named interim coach in January, after Major took a medical leave of absence.

After the 49ers finished the season 14-18 (8-11 under Odom), Major and the school agreed to mutually part ways.

Before joining the staff at Charlotte, Odom spent seven seasons on the coaching staff at Virginia Tech as an assistant and was part of a Hokies’ team that made the NCAA tournament in 2007 and beat Illinois in the first round.

Odom was also an assistant coach at American (2000-03), UNC Asheville (1999-00) and Furman (1997-99). He was an administrative assistant for a year at South Florida (1996-97).

Odom graduated from Hampden-Sydney in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and was a four-year starting point guard on the men’s basketball team. Odom, captain his senior season, helped lead Hampden-Sydey to an 80-30 record and two appearances in the NCAA Division III tournament.

Lenoir-Rhyne’s new coach is the son of Dave Odom, a former head coach at East Carolina, Wake Forest and South Carolina.

This story was originally published May 19, 2015 at 5:25 PM.