LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - San José State Associate Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator Derrick Odum has been nominated for the 2024 Broyles Award, which honors college football’s top assistant coaches, announced by the organization on Tuesday.
Odum's defense has 24 takeaways this season, which is good for first place in the Mountain West Conference and fifth place in the nation. They also have 77 tackles for loss, which is second in the conference and 18th in the country.
"Coach Odum is an elite football coach!" said San José State head football coach Ken Niumatalolo. "I am very grateful that he decided to stay. The players love him and play hard for him! He is as good of a football coach as I have ever been around. He definitely needs to be a head coach in the near future!"
Odum was named the MW coordinator of the week by 247 Sports following the Spartans first ever win at Air Force (9/7/24) while holding the Falcons offense to 197 yards, one touchdown, and only 54 passing yards and against Oregon State (11/9/24) after holding the Beavers to only 13 points at home and causing three turnovers for the Spartans first win in Corvallis, Ore. since 1982.
Odum is in his eighth season as defensive coordinator at SJSU, which is the fourth longest stint for an FBS defensive coordinator currently in the country behind Iowa's Phil Parker (13), Iowa State's Jon Heacock (nine), and Utah's Morgan Scalley (nine). Odum is the only one with two different head coaches.
The Spartans have clinched bowl eligibility for the third season in a row and the fourth season out of their last five. This season, the Spartans had 49 new players join their team.
The 65 nominees in this year’s class were selected from approximately 1,500 assistant coaches representing 131 FBS programs nationwide.
The Broyles Award was created in 1996 to recognize Coach Frank Broyles’ legacy of selecting and developing
great assistants during his hall-of-fame career as head coach at Arkansas.
UP NEXT: The Spartans host Stanford on Friday, Nov. 29, from CEFCU Stadium, presented by Webcor. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. (PT) and it can be watched on CBS and heard on 860 AM.
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