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Odom reflects on process of building Wildcats into a winner

Brick by brick.

It’s an ironic phrase for Jonathan Odom, who didn’t clank one very often during his days as a sharpshooting guard and big-time scorer at Phil Campbell High School and Northwest-Shoals Community College. But it accurately describes how Odom went about the process of building a brand new varsity basketball program at Tharptown High School into a consistent winner over the past decade.

Odom, who left Northwest-Shoals in 2003 with the intentions of pursuing a degree in engineering at the University of Alabama, changed course and chose to follow his heart (and his father, Gary) into coaching. Last week, Odom stepped down after 11 years as the Wildcats’ head coach, citing his newfound duties as an administrator and a desire to spend more time with his wife, Mandy, and their two daughters, seven-year-old Sadie and two-year-old Adley.

In their first four seasons under Odom, the Wildcats won 27 games; his 2014-15 team matched that total in a single season, finishing 27-3 and demonstrating just how far the program had progressed under Odom’s leadership. The Free Press caught up with Odom last week and asked him to reflect on his career at Tharptown, which included 175 wins, three area tournament titles, two county championships and a landmark trip to Hanceville in 2011.

FFP: First, the obvious question. Why now?

JO: With the added responsibilities I’ve had over the past few year, plus the added kids and all that, it’s hard to find the time to put into it that the [players] deserve and the program deserves. I felt like now was the time when I needed to pass it on.” [Odom split time between teaching and serving as assistant principal at the high school up until Christmas, when he became assistant principal at Tharptown Elementary to go along with his administrative duties at THS.]

“My youngest is about to be two, and I’d like to spend more time with the kids, with family. Sadie started playing basketball this year, and that takes a lot of time with practice and playing every Saturday, traveling to Belmont and different places. That played into it as well. When you add up that time with the added stuff I’m doing now, it’s hard to find time to do scheduling, watch film and things like that—things you have to do if you wanna continue to build the program. I don’t feel like I have the time that needs to be put in.”

FFP: Eleven years isn’t that long in the grand scheme of things. Will you ever get back into coaching?

JO: “You never say never. I’ve got the two kids, and as they get into sports, you never know. But as of now, yeah, that’s it. It’s flown by, and I’ve had a good time. When I applied for this job, I never applied for the varsity job. A math job was open, and I assumed there would be coaching duties involved in it. When I got the job, I was actually swimming at my dad’s house, and Bill Moss, who was the superintendent then, called me. He said, ‘Congratulations, you’re the new varsity basketball coach.’ I never expected that.”

FFP: What made you a good fit to be Tharptown’s first varsity boys basketball coach?

JO: “I felt like, at the time, that was what we needed—a young coach who was gonna stick with it, who wasn’t planning on going other places, who would try to get the program built. That was my goal when we first started, to build the program and be as competitive as we could. Not only that, but to be a positive role model and positive influence on the kids I’ve had. The past eleven years, I feel like I’ve done that. I’m proud of that.”

FFP: Speaking of that, what accomplishment during your time at Tharptown makes you most proud?

JO: “I think I’ll always be most proud when I think about kids that I saw who, without basketball, they would probably not have graduated. I’m most proud of that. As far as basketball goes, we started that first year with mostly eighth-graders. We had a couple of ninth-graders and a tenth-grader that stuck with us, but there wasn’t a whole lot of interest at that point in those two grades. I took those eighth-graders—guys like Jacob Parker, Wesley Borden and Wade Berryman—and we went from winning four games our first year to winning the area and going to Hanceville by the time those guys were seniors. Kelby Hallmark was on that team, too, with Nick Long, who was a junior, and Cody Cagle, another junior.

“The first several years, we didn’t know if we would ever be consistently competitive. I feel like that’s where we’re at now. We’ve been consistently competitive for many years. That’s one thing I’m proud of.”

FFP: Which team was the best team you had?

JO: “Probably three years ago, with Max [Nolen] and all them. Drake Lawson and Eric O’Dell, they were the two seniors on that team. That was probably our best team, as far as talent and playing together. We got beat by Tanner by one, and probably most years we would have had no business being in the game with a team like them that went to the Final Four and had a shot to win it. That team of ours will always stand out.

“The one that went to Hanceville will always stand out, too, We weren’t very good at the beginning of that season. Then we only lost two games after Christmas—to Belgreen in the county championship and to Pickens County in Hanceville. Wesley Borden hit everything he shot after Christmas. That’s a team I’ll always remember.”

FFP: Who was the best player you coached?

JO: “I guess I’ll always say Max was the best player I had, all-around. He was a good defender, a good rebounder, a pretty good scorer and a decent shooter. He had that all-around game. I feel like he was the best all-around player I had, with his unselfishness and just being a good, coachable guy who always listened and would do whatever you asked.

“I would throw Bailey [Motes] in there, too, for the two years he was here. He was a very good scorer. Then you’ve got Jacob Parker. I’d throw him in there. He was a great scorer. If I had to have a basket at the end of the game and I needed somebody to get me the best shot we could get, I’d probably want Jacob to be the one with the ball. He was one of those scorers who could always get a shot off when he needed to.

“Wesley Borden is the best shooter we’ve ever had, and then you’ve got post players like Blake [Gray] and Nick. And there’s Kelby, who was really good. He was another guy who was more of an all-around type of player. He could score, and he distributed it well. I hate that Kelby got hurt [his junior year] and had to miss half the season. But that’s when Kent Allen stepped up and had a really great senior year. He’s another guy I’d put on that list.”

FFP: The sub-regional win over Shoals Christian in 2011 felt like a landmark moment for the program. Was that the most memorable game of your tenure?

JO: “It is. You had Patrick [Odom, Jonathan’s first cousin] coaching the other team, and it was the first so-called ‘big game’ we had played in. We played in the area championship, but as far as win or go home, that was the first one we played in. For us to be able to win it, I think that played a big part in getting us over the hump. It gave the community something to be excited about, and after that everyone thought we could win, we could compete. We hadn’t done that before.”

FFP: There were certainly some memorable plays that happened during your time as head coach: Kelby Hallmark’s end-to-end dash for the game-winning layup to beat Belgreen in the area finals in 2011, then, on the opposite end of the spectrum, Tanner’s buzzer-beating basket to beat you guys in the sub-regional round in 2015. Any others jump out at you?

JO: “Those are a couple of plays that stick out. One that I probably won’t ever forget that was a negative was in the county championship [in 2010] against my dad [who was coaching Phil Campbell at the time]. Jordan Benford hit the three for them with seven or eight seconds on the clock to put them up one, and Trevor Hallmark fouled him up into the bleachers. The referee blew the whistle, but the clock ran for about three more seconds after the foul.

“We were playing in the old Phil Campbell gym, and that placed was packed. It was loud. He shot it right in the corner where the student section was. If you remember, the clock [at the scorer’s table] was up in the stands, and [the clock-keeper] couldn’t see and couldn’t hear the whistle. So three or four seconds ran off after the shot. We all knew it. We argued it, to no avail. They missed the free throw, and we didn’t have any timeouts left, so Jacob Parker went the length of the court and scored, but they waved it off and said it came after the buzzer. If we had that extra time, then that shot counts and we win.

“That was the year before we had the team that went to Hanceville. For us to be in the game with them at Phil Campbell was big for us at that point. We weren’t scheduling them yet, because we didn’t feel like we were ready to compete. We were the four-seed in the county tournament, and we beat Belgreen. They were the one-seed. We beat them to get to play Phil Campbell, and most people didn’t even think we’d be in the game with them. We should have won it. That was a game I won’t ever forget.”

FFP: Do you have any regrets about your time as Tharptown’s coach?

JO: “For all of our guys, but especially for the two teams that won 27 games and 25 games, I wish they got the opportunity to go to Hanceville and maybe go farther. We got put in 2A those two years, and we were very good in 2A, but that probably kept them from doing as well as the team that went to Hanceville. I don’t wish we would have done anything different; I just wish they had the opportunity to experience playing down there, because they deserved it.”

FFP: When did you know the program had arrived, so to speak?

JO: “I guess when those guys as seniors made it to Hanceville, I felt like we were where we needed to be. And we didn’t really drop off from there—I don’t feel like we did. Even though we didn’t go back [to Hanceville], we stayed competitive, for the most part, every year.”

FFP: Admit it. You’re going to miss the referees.

JO: “It’s just one of those things. I’ll probably go on to be an official, and there you go. I gave them a hard time over the years, but I know it’s a tough job—especially basketball, with everything right there on you. I’ll probably understand just how hard it really is.

“But I won’t miss them. I won’t miss that part of it.”

FFP: You had some assistant coaches that played a key role in helping you build the program.

JO: “I appreciate [Jonathan] Motes for his help over the years. His first year was the year we went to Hanceville, so of course he takes credit for that. He says that’s when the program really took off. I appreciate all the assistants I’ve had—Griffin [Harris] and Shannon [Benford] and Brett [Thomas]. I hesitate to name all of them, because I know I’ll leave somebody out. But without help, you definitely can’t get to where you need to be.”

FFP: With all the success you guys had, you must have had some offers to move up in the coaching ranks.

JO: “I had several offers over the years, but I always felt like I had it good here. The teaching job was good, the kids were good, the interest [in the program] was good. I had a chance to go to Phil Campbell a couple of times, and different places. One of the best [offers] I probably had that I might have taken if things had been different was the Fayette job. They’re pretty good now, and if I had gone there a couple of years ago I probably could have been a part of that success. It was more money and all that, but it was too far away.

“Things have always been good here. If something else wasn’t gonna be better, I wasn’t just gonna go. And I never saw that it was gonna be better. I had it too good here. The people were good, the kids were good, and I couldn’t leave that.”

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