Virginia is set to hire VCU coach Ryan Odom, the man who coached UMBC to its historic upset over the Cavaliers in 2018. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Seven years ago, Ryan Odom’s team beat Virginia in a historic March Madness upset. Now, Odom will be coaching the Cavaliers.

Virginia has hired the VCU coach as its next head coach, officially announcing the move on Saturday. Odom was the coach at UMBC in 2018 when his Retrievers beat Virginia, 74-54, in the first round of the NCAA tournament. It was the first time a No. 16 seed had ever taken down a No. 1 seed since the tournament had expanded to 64 teams.

Odom stayed at UMBC for three more seasons before going to Utah State. The Aggies made the NCAA tournament in 2023 with a 26-9 record before he left to become the coach at VCU. The Rams won the Atlantic 10 in 2024-25 and were a No. 11 seed in the 2025 NCAA tournament before losing to No. 6 BYU in the first round.

Virginia went 15-17 in 2024-25 after longtime coach Tony Bennett abruptly retired last October. Bennett had been Virginia’s coach for 15 seasons and the team famously went on to win the 2019 national title a year after that UMBC loss.

In a news conference announcing his retirement, Bennett said that college basketball and college athletics as a whole were “not in a healthy spot.”

He was replaced by assistant coach Ron Sanchez, who was left to deal with a roster of players that were prepared to play for Bennett. The Cavaliers went just 8-12 in a weak ACC and allowed 66.8 points per game. Virginia had never allowed that many points per game during Bennett’s tenure. In 2024-25, VCU allowed less than 63 points per game and had a scoring defense that ranked 10th in the country.