Larranaga and Odom Face Each Other for First Time
Former UVA Assistants Meet in Disney
Staff Writer Damien Sordelett

As both walked from their benches following a 69-68 George Mason victory, they did not greet each other like most college coaches. For these two, a normal handshake would not encompass the friendship that each have for the other.

Mason coach Jim Larranaga and South Carolina coach Dave Odom met for the first time as opponents on Sunday, Nov. 25. The two former assistant coaches to Terry Holland at the University of Virginia experienced five years of national success, highlighted by a trip to the NCAA Final Four in 1984. For both to be on the opposite end of the sidelines in the same game, it was a different experience.

“It’s difficult whenever you compete against a friend because someone wins and someone doesn’t win,” said Larranaga, who has coached at Bowling Green and Mason since he left UVA in 1986. “Tonight, the ball bounced our way at the end and we fortunately we were able to hold on for the victory. I will be cheering for Dave the rest of the year.”

The same can be said for their former coach Holland, the current athletics director at East Carolina, who watched the game from afar.

“I was hoping that they would meet in the Old Spice Championship game instead of the Third Place game,” said Holland, who coached at Virginia from 1974-1990. “But no matter what game they played each other in, my wife and I had to cheer for both teams.”

Larranaga joined the staff at UVA in 1979, which allowed him to experience an NIT title in 1980 and his first Final Four birth in 1981. Odom joined the bench a year later in 1982. Both were privileged to coach one of the greatest centers in college basketball, Ralph Sampson. It was a time when UVA was at the pinnacle of college basketball and a reason that success has followed them elsewhere in their coaching careers.

“Jim Larranaga and Dave Odom were terrific assistant coaches at UVA and both had the unique qualification of having head coaching experience,” Holland said. “Coach Larranaga at American International College (a DII institution) and Coach Odom at East Carolina University. Both have subsequently proven their abilities by taking numerous teams to post-season play as head coaches and both are highly regarded and respected teachers by those who know and love the game of college basketball.”

What formed from between the two was a bond of more than basketball. After Odom arrived in 1982, the Cavaliers reached the Final Four again in 1984. Though Larranaga left in 1987 to pursue his head coaching career at Bowling Green, his time at UVA with Odom has not been forgotten.

“It was the kind of friendships that [had] a lot of great memories,” Larranaga said. “We won an awful lot of basketball games together, we played for a great guy in Terry Holland, we had a lot of terrific players, Ralph Sampson and company. We had a lot of fun trips, we shared a motel room wherever we traveled, and talked about our families and children. It was fun to be able to work with him.”

Though it took time for Larranaga to achieve the pinnacle of success in reaching the Final Four at Mason in 2006, Odom was able to lead his teams into post-season play in the strong ACC.

While at Wake Forest from 1989-2001, Odom’s teams reached the NCAA Tournament eight times, including seven straight years from 1991-1997. Those years were highlighted by the recruiting of Tim Duncan, which spearheaded two-straight ACC Championships and an Elite 8 berth in 1996.

Despite his success in college basketball, Odom still had time to recognize what his friend has done at mid-major schools.

“He’s a great coach, really one of the underappreciated coaches in the country,” Odom  said of Larranaga. “I don’t how you can be underappreciated [when you] take your team to the Final Four, but maybe outside of the Washington area, maybe the Virginia area, people don’t know about him. He’s a great basketball coach, a great guy.”

While the Patriots were celebrating on the court following the victory, Larranaga and Odom embraced at midcourt. It was a moment where the school logo on their clothing did not matter. It was a time where both knew that friendship was stronger than the game that their teams had just battled for 40 minutes.