Sports

Lamar Odom Makes Compelling Pitch For His Alma Mater To Hire Him As Next Head Basketball Coach

#basketball
by Last Updated

Getty Image

  • After leading the Rhode Island Rams to the NCAA Tournament, Lamar Odom wants to bring them back.
  • This time, he wants to take a different role and his case is compelling.
  • Click HERE for more college hoops coverage!

Lamar Odom knows a thing or two about both basketball and life. The 42-year-old has been through some difficult times, but he is blessed to be alive and has continuously pushed himself to get better and grow as a person.

And he has two NBA Championship rings.

Odom is currently coming off of a stint on Celebrity Big Brother and joined Entertainment Tonight for an interview shortly after being evicted. He discussed his plans for the future and has one particular role in mind.

After playing for the Rams in the late 1990s, Odom wants to become the head basketball coach at the University of Rhode Island. He said that they “would be a fool” not to give him a shot.

URI basketball is currently 13-13 in 2021/22 and only 4-10 in A-10 play. The Rams finished 10-15 overall last season and have not reached the NCAA Tournament since 2017/18.

Dan Hurley, who took over the program in 2012, built Rhode Island up to back-to-back 25+ win seasons in 2016/17 and 2017/18. Hurley left for UConn in 2018 and the program has not been the same since.

The two March Madness appearances for URI were the first since 1999, when Odom was in school. He led the Rams to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments while in school.

When his alma mater was back in the Dance a few years ago, Odom was there to cheer them on.

Now he wants to lead them back.

Honestly, as Odom said, it would be foolish not to give him a chance. It can’t get much worse.

Odom has been there, done that. He has played on the highest level. He knows what it takes to win and has a plan to do so.

Odom wants bring the Miami Heat training regimen from when Pat Riley and Stan Van Gundy oversaw the program to Rhode Island, couple it with what he knows about the sport, and win. In addition, he knows what it is like to be in a college athlete’s shoes and has learned so much throughout his life that he could connect to the players on a deeper level.

All-in-all, with the current trajectory of the Rams on the hardwood, bringing in Odom could prove to be a risk with a very high reward. At the very least, it would help with recruiting, because there are surely quite a few high school basketball players who would love to play under Odom.