Saturday, September 3rd will officially go down as the first game as Head Coach of the Missouri Tigers for Barry Odom, as Mizzou opens the 2016 season at West Virginia. However, between now and then, Coach Odom and the Tigers have many duties to fulfill in readying for the season. Coach Odom has been coach at his alma mater for six months, and was part of a caravan of “Tigers” at Northwestern High School in Mendon last Thursday night.
During a press conference with the assembled sports media, Coach Odom spoke about his experiences, both good and bad, as the head man with Mizzou football:
Mizzou appears to have a healthy roster, including the return of All-SEC 2014 defensive lineman Harold Brantley, heading into the summer:
Brantley suffered serious injuries in a car accident in Columbia last summer, and missed the entire 2015 season.
With a change at the head coaching position, changes were also made to coordinator positions at MU. The hire with the most “pizzazz” to it was that of Oklahoma national championship winning quarterback Josh Heupel, coming to Columbia as Odom’s offensive coordinator:
If Mizzou is to improve in 2016, it will need to happen on the offensive side of the football, where Drew Lock struggled as a freshman, and returns as the likely starter at quarterback for his sophomore season:
The September 3rd season opener at West Virginia will be followed by back-to-back home games, against Eastern Michigan on September 10th and the SEC opener against the Georgia Bulldogs on September 17th.
