Much has been made about how the Utah State Aggies men’s basketball program has qualified for the NCAA Tournament seven times over the last eight years despite having four different head coaches in that time period.
On Saturday during an NCAA Tournament press conference, one of those four coaches — Ryan Odom — was asked about why he thinks that has been able to happen, and he gave a nod to the state of Utah as a whole in his answer.
Referring to Utah State specifically, Odom said, “It’s a place that, they love their basketball, and they love their basketball program, and Utah’s a basketball state, and so the kids that grow up in that state want to play at one of those schools.”
Odom then said, “It’s probably BYU first, and then you have Utah and Utah State second there, and they’re just really good players coming up through the ranks there.”
Odom led the Aggies from 2021-2023. His first season at the helm was the lone time since 2019 that Utah State did not qualify for the tournament (it wasn’t played in 2020, but the Aggies had qualified), but the Aggies made it in his second season.
Odom then left to become the head coach at VCU, and now he is the head coach at Virginia, which is a 3 seed in the Big Dance and has a second round game on Sunday against Tennessee, while the Aggies have a game against the Arizona Wildcats.
Of the Cache Valley school in particular, Odom said, “Utah State’s shown an ability to go outside, be it international, be it other guys domestically that want to play in that type of environment. It’s one of the best environments in all of college basketball in terms of their home court.
“Their students are tremendous, and I would encourage anybody that loves basketball, I would encourage you to just make a trip out there and experience it for yourself. ...I think it starts there, but the players and the former players and former coaches really care about the program and they want to win.”
Odom’s comments come as the Aggies may need to find another new head coach soon, as Jerrod Calhoun is widely considered the front runner to be hired to the same position by Cincinnati, which recently fired coach Wes Miller.
Regardless of who Utah State’s coach is next season, that person will be leading the program into the newly redesigned Pac-12 Conference, officially beginning in July.