But the crickets hired MY

He played his cards well- was always destined IMO to end up at UVA or Wake. I think he realized if VT was his first power job, lack of resources vs the rest of the League could bury him , and then he'd never get a second chance at a ACC job. Also I know his family was very young and was reluctant to uproot the Baltimore area- although 2 years later he decided to go to Utah State.

We would have paid him 5X the amount of money that UMBC was paying him, and it's an ACC job that he already knew very well because he had been here. You don't walk away from that. He was my No. 1 at the time because I thought he had the highest ceiling of all legitimate candidates.

but the way it played out with all the haste to get statements out to refute it, and I cant remember the reporter or two ran with it but they were legit, makes me think we did offer him at least verbally. The sniff test to me is even Whit could clearly see Odom was a sexier hire with a higher ceiling then CMY. There just wasnt a compelling case to have preferred CMY at the time. If you recall this was another 'Whit with his pants down' hire. After Buzz resigned, I think it is pretty certain he took a very quick and unsuccessful swing at Mick Cronin (the Cincy connection) . Then we had a protracted situation courting Kevin Williard which ended with him getting a bump at Seton Hall (note- Whit likely dodged Buzz II there, the way it ended at Maryland). Anyway he was up against it time wise (just like Pry) and probably took the bird in the hand with the first guy to say yes, which was CMY. All in all in ended reasonably well for VT, but to me it was another Whit misjudges the hiring and settles in desperation. Again that is no slam on CMY who had proved more then adequate. But I think that was more luck then some sort of Whit brilliance. Of course the VT story is going to be we preferred CMY all along. And let me add, Odom was a different bird then most, because he had a lot of big time advice and experience growing up around the profession. He was willing to walk away from the first huge raise. He was being celebrated in Baltimore , living in a nice place, nice schools, young family. He knew he'd get other shots. ** Edited by Vippie1 at 2/19/2026, 10:40:14 AM

That the VT job was just used as leverage by his agent. I had a couple of very good sources during that search. The morning of the day the Young news broke, the word I got was "Odom hasn't heard from Virginia Tech since yesterday, so he doesn't think he's getting the job."

Im not disputing your sources. But if Whit didn't offer Odom, didn't go after Williard, and there is no admission of other candidates, then he is the worse most ineffective AD in history at running a process for an ACC head basketball coach job. Sadly that could actually be the truth. Which is why id rather have cmy mail it in for another season then let Whit anywhere near the next process.

I think he went into it with a fairly open mind. Not completely open, because everybody has a few guys that they prefer over others (like Bob Chesney for me). But I think he was perfectly willing to let the process play out and make a decision after the interviews were conducted. And like Scoop said in this thread, there was some steering towards Young from some folks with influence. FWIW, the worst, most ineffective AD in history at running a process for an ACC head basketball coaching job was probably the Greenberg to JJ transition. Or at Wake Forest, where the old AD (forget his name) just hired his golf buddy (Jeff Bzdelik) who had gone 36-58 at Colorado.

i'll stand by the narrative that Whit more or less offered him (while still at UMBC), before CMY, and was rebuffed. I think it was a Saturday afternoon when TSL exploded that he was our new coach, forcing UMBC to issue a statement denying it.

point. double ouch.

More money and more smarts

foul the other night?

More smarts

$10 million vs $ 3-4 million. Get it?