Barry Odom, a former Missouri player and coach, was named Tuesday as the new defensive coordinator for the football Tigers.
Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel announced Odom, who has been the defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Memphis, will replace Dave Steckel after the Tigers' appearance against Minnesota in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1. Steckel is leaving to become the head coach at Missouri State after the bowl game.
"It goes without saying how excited I am to have this opportunity," Odom said in a statement released by the university. "I have such a deep respect for the success that coach Pinkel and his staff have had since I've been away. Transitioning to a new conference is very challenging, and all they've done is get better at everything.
"When you look nationally at winning percentage, APR, graduation rates, Mizzou is the total package and it's absolutely one of the top football programs and athletic departments in the country. I'm excited to do my part to continue to add to that, and our family is excited to be part of it again."
Odom has been the defensive coordinator at Memphis the past three seasons. Memphis concluded a 10-3 season with a 55-48 win against BYU in double overtime Monday in the Miami Beach Bowl. Memphis was fifth nationally in scoring defense at 17.1 points per game and 22nd in total defense at 343.3 yards per game this season.
"We're really excited to have Barry and his family back at Mizzou," Pinkel said. "He's done an outstanding job at Memphis these past three years. He's coached with us before, and it's great to see someone professionally advance himself and go do such a great job elsewhere. I know he was sought after by several other power five schools recently, so we feel very fortunate to have him with us."
Odom, 38, played linebacker at Missouri from 1996-99 before returning for a nine-year stint in a variety of roles on Pinkel's staff from 2003-11. He first came back in 2003 as an administrative graduate assistant, and after one year in that role, Odom moved to director of recruiting for the 2004 and 2005 seasons and then served three years (2006-08) as director of football operations.
In 2009, Odom began a three-year term as coach of the Missouri safeties as well as playing a prominent role in recruiting before accepting the job with Memphis.
"It's always tough to leave a place that's been as good to me as Memphis has, and I can't thank coach (Justin) Fuentes enough for the opportunity he provided for me," Odom said. "Being a part of this building process for the last three years has made me a better coach, and I'm proud to know that it's in better shape now than what we came into," he said.
Odom, who served as head coach at Rock Bridge High School in 2001 and 2002, will also coach the linebackers at Missouri.