Brian Odom, who has a dual background in coaching linebackers and sports performance completed his second season as the inside linebackers coach and associate head coach for defense at USC in 2023. He was also named interim Co-Defensive Coordinator midway through the 2023 season.
 Odom, 41, coached a group of inside linebackers who made massive contributions to the Trojan defense throughout the 2022 season. Shane Lee and Eric Gentry were USC’s second and third tackling leaders, with Lee recording 78 and Gentry collecting 71. USC played in the Cotton Bowl to conclude the 2022 season. He spent the previous 3 years (2019-21) as the inside linebackers coach at Oklahoma.  The Sooners ranked 24thnationally in rushing defense in 2021 (123.8) and advanced to the Alamo Bowl.  In 2020 while winning the Big 12 title and playing in the Cotton Bowl, OU was fourth in the nation in opponent third-down conversion percentage (27.9), seventh in sacks (3.4) and ninth in both pass efficiency defense (112.9) and rushing defense (105.1) while allowing just 21.7 points per game.  Oklahoma was 17th in the nation in opponent third-down conversion percentage (32.2) in 2019 when OU won the Big 12 crown and played in a College Football Playoff semifinal in the Peach Bowl.  Linebacker Kenneth Murray was an All-Big 12 first team selection in 2019 and an NFL first round pick in 2020. He was the outside linebackers coach at Missouri in 2017 and 2018.  The Tigers were 22nd nationally in rushing defense (122.9) in 2017.  Linebacker Terez Hall played in the NFL.  Missouri played in the 2017 Texas Bowl and 2018 Liberty Bowl.

Odom attended Oklahoma for 2 seasons (2000-01), redshirting as a running back on the Sooners’ 2000 national championship team (he won the team’s Iron Man Award that season for his performance in the weight room) and then lettering in 2001 while playing primarily on special teams. He then transferred to Southeastern Oklahoma State, where he was a 3-year (2002-04) starting tailback.  He earned All-Lone Star Conference first team honors as a senior in 2004. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Southeastern Oklahoma State in 2004. He was Oklahoma’s High School Player of the Year in 1999 as a running back at Ada (Okla.) High.