Dave Odom Interview

We're now being joined by the legendary Wake Forest basketball coach, who coached Randolph Childress and many other Demon Deacon legends. He's going to be honored Wednesday night. And I want to say this as a reminder, he's going to be honored before the game, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Wednesday night at the Joel. And then at halftime, the 95 team is going to be recognized. Dave Odom, welcome back on in the Triad.

How are you? I appreciate the information because, you know, basketball fans, not just Wake Forest basketball fans, but basketball fans have a tendency of showing up about three minutes before tip off. And, you know, to come three minutes before that tip off, they'll miss whatever other ceremonies they are pregame. So I appreciate you mentioning that. I really do.

I look forward to a really wonderful Wednesday evening. What can you tell me about the first time you saw or met Tim Duncan? Well, it's a story that I've told many, many times. But the short version is that Chris King, one of our former players, pre Duncan, was he had been drafted by the NBA. And he and Alonzo Mourning and several other players were sent by the NBA down to the Caribbean islands, down to the Caribbean. They just kind of island hopped around, did some clinics and, you know, just kind of visited with the the the natives down in the Caribbean.

And one of the islands that they were on is the island of St. Croix. And so I saw Chris when he got back and I just rhetorically asked him, I said, Chris, you know, you you didn't see anybody we ought to be interested in, did you? And he said, well, coach, there was a kid on the island of St. Croix and he was pretty good. I said, well, I got a big, you know, he gave me all the pertinent information and I got one of my assistants to get right on that. And we made phone contact with him and he was amenable to me coming down and watching him play. And so it was a Sunday and October 4th. I remember it very well. I flew down from Greensboro to St. Croix and watched him play that afternoon. And the rest is history. It was an easy recruit to get.

I can tell you that much easier than than a lot of them. How confident see, it's the all star break for the NBA. How confident are you that he's going to be there Wednesday night? Well, I mean, you know, for the first time in his life, you know, his time is not his own.

Yeah. I mean, he's just a coach. And, you know, I think he's doing everything he possibly can to get here. Just just because Wake Forest deserves something good to happen. I'm going to say he will make it.

All right. We're looking forward to that. And that's that's enough for, I think, most deep bands to get there Wednesday night. Just the just the chance that they might see.

Of course, it's to see you. But Tim Duncan on top of that, that's just icing on the cake. What goes through you today when you walk into Joel Coliseum, the place that you called home for many years? Well, I'm amazed that I look at Joel Coliseum as being a tremendous advantage to Wake Forest.

We got a lot of wins in this building. And, you know, when we when we teed it up, we expected to win. I think that was one of the traits of our nineteen ninety four ninety five teams is that they were not afraid to lay it out there every night.

They laid it out there. They were they they were twelve, thirteen guys that played as one. They thought as one.

They fought as one. And they and as a result, you know, they they got a lot of wins on that court out there. So when I another thought that I have, Josh, is when I walk in, I invariably I can't help it. My eyes immediately go to the rafters and where the banners are. And I start looking at one end down there, Dickie Hemric and Lynn Chapel in another era. And then you then you get into Charlie Davis and Skip Brown and Rod Griffin and Muggsy Bogues.

And then then you get into Rodney Randolph and Tim and then Josh Howard behind that. I mean, you can't help but just I mean, wait for us. Basketball tradition is second to none. I mean, we've had some great, great, great players come through here. And so therefore it makes it humbles me just to just to think that in a short time I'll have a banner up there as well.

So it's you know, I don't have the words. I don't think to express how appreciative I am of the university for doing this. You know, John Curry, certainly the athletics director. I think Danny Manning had a lot to do with it. Dave Odom. I appreciate that from his standpoint. Dave Odom with us here on Sports Hub Triad. As you said, Wake Forest. I mean, just all those names you you listed off in the history.

It's something that we all appreciate. But I went to two games on Saturday. I watched Notre Dame, Duke. I watched North Carolina, Virginia.

And it's crazy to think I don't mean to make you feel old because it made me feel old. There were there were kids who were born in 2001 playing in that game. And I started thinking from 1990, when you started coaching at Wake Forest till 2010, the only ACC programs that had more wins than Wake Forest, North Carolina, Duke and Maryland.

That's the type of success we're talking about here. However, I talk to people and I say I live in Winston-Salem and I talk about this program. And the younger people say, Wake Forest basketball, what are you talking about? They've been the one NCAA tournament in the last 10 years. What do you mean they're respectable as a basketball program right there with Duke in North Carolina? How much does it bother you when people say that things have changed for Wake basketball?

Well, first of all, they have changed, but I think they can change back. You know, I watch our team. I think our team is playing the best basketball that it's played all season long. I know they did not play well on Saturday.

I do know that. But the two games before that, Louisville and Syracuse, they were they were really, really good. I think they can get back.

I think it's up to the fans. And I think it begins with our students. We've got to get our students to the game. I look up in the student section at some games that, you know, they're half empty, half full, whatever you want to call it. That's not good. That's not ACC style.

And then when you put nothing into it, then that's what you end up getting. So, you know, I'd like to see our student body more involved. And I think that would give us energy in the building.

And if you've got energy in the building, the adults will want to come and the place will begin to fill up. When I was coaching and I think when Coach Prosser came along, pretty much the same thing. It was not a question about how many people were going to be at the games.

I mean, we just knew they're going to be fourteen thousand four hundred and seven. I think it was when I was coaching. So does it bother me? Absolutely.

It bothers me. Wake Forest has a really strong basketball heritage lineage, if you will. And we need to reclaim that. And we can do that. We can do that as a university. We can do it as a community. We can do it as a state.

Wake Forest has far reaching people on either end of this state that really like Wake Forest. And we've got to mobilize all of that again. And I think Coach Manning is working extremely hard to get that done. And it could be done.

But the answer to your question is it really, really bothers me. Wake Forest. Great. Dave Odom. His name is going into the rafters Wednesday night, seven o'clock at Joel Coliseum. He's going to be recognized before the game. They're going to honor the ninety five team at halftime. And this is the coolest thing about it, Coach Odom. And I wanted to ask you about it. Why is it so important to you that you have your night be shared, not just the ninety five team being honored and your name going up in the rafters, but getting many of the other great dekes who are still with us, try to get them to the Joel Coliseum for them to be recognized as well? Well, when John Kerry came to me with the idea about doing this, I told him I would agree to do it if we would invite all of those on the banners who have banners in the rafters back.

And he said, why you want to do that? Because, you know, the championship that we had on that particular March afternoon, a March night, as it were, you know, it was a product of all the things that had come before us. The foundations that were laid 61 to 62 championships. And, you know, that team didn't stop there. It went on to the final final four. And then, you know, when you look at Charlie Davis, one of the first African-American players in the Atlantic Coast Conference, maybe the best jump shooter they've ever been in this league.

I mean, he's terrific. And, you know, there's just a lot of good things that happened with these these people. And it's been forever getting them back as a group.

I don't know this ever happened. And here we are right on the verge of being able to get these all of the banners back as many of them can. Rod Griffin is probably not going to make it back.

He lives over in Italy and that's a hard trip for him. But most of the others are going to be back. And so I'm excited about that. And that will excite the fans for Wake Forest because to see all of them back at one time has never been done.

So I'm excited about that. I'm just so happy for you, coach. You're one of the more respected guys out there. And I've we've crossed paths back when I was doing radio at East Carolina, where you've been. And I'm good friends with Terry Holland as well, who you were an assistant for.

I'm just thrilled that you're getting your due and the ninety five team as well. Thanks for all you've done for Wake Forest. And we'll see you Wednesday night. Josh, thanks. Any time I can help you, let me know.

It's a pleasure talking to you. And again, a reminder, tell the fans to get there early, six thirty twenty seven at the latest. You got it. There you go. That's Dave Odom. Wake Forest basketball legend.