[1] Odom was a four-year starting point guard for the Hampden–Sydney Tigers under head coach Tony Shaver, serving as team captain his senior year.

He also had stops as an assistant coach with Furman, UNC Asheville, and American, before spending seven years on Seth Greenberg's staff at Virginia Tech.

Odom was relieved of his coaching duties on March 16, 2015 when Major and the university mutually agreed to part ways, and his staff was not retained.

From there the Retrievers defeated St. Francis (PA) in the second round and advanced past Liberty in the CIT quarterfinals before falling to Texas A&M–Corpus Christi in the semifinals.

In his final year at UMBC, Odom guided the Retrievers to a share of the America East regular season crown for the first time since 2008.

[a] Connor received the award for his advocacy on mental health issues after going public with his own struggles with anxiety and obsessive–compulsive disorder following a teenage bout with Lyme disease.

He shared the award with Saint Louis' Terrence Hargrove, another player who openly discussed his own mental health issues.

Conference tournament champion *Charlotte head coach Alan Major took an indefinite leave of absence due to medical reasons on January 6, 2015.