East: Southern, Odums right fit for each other

Regarding NCCU:  “I’m a different kind of guy,” Odums said. “I only knock on your door so many times, and if you don’t let me in, I respect you for what you’re trying to do. But I just don’t foresee that in the future that’s a door I’ll knock on.”

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana  --  Southern didn’t need North Carolina Central to show interest in Dawson Odums to appreciate what it had in its head football coach.

Likewise, Odums didn’t need to do any comparative shopping to appreciate what he had at Southern.

NCCU bringing in Odums to interview for the Eagles head coaching position didn’t change the fact that Odums was the right coach for Southern and Southern was the right place for Odums.

In fact, a brief negotiating period that yielded a three-year contract extension for Odums on Thursday reinforced to both sides what a mutually satisfying union this has become.

When NCCU interviewed Odums a week and a half ago, Jaguars Athletic Director William Broussard didn’t panic.

He knew the Eagles had one thing he couldn’t match: the emotional tie Odums has to his alma mater. But Broussard was confident in what he did have to offer.

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Dawson Odums foresees stability at Southern

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana  -- Southern football coach Dawson Odums has a new message for recruits.

He had been telling them that even though he had just one year left on his contract and he had a job interview at North Carolina Central, he was working on a long-term commitment to the Jaguars.

But now that he has agreed to a three-year extension, subject to approval by the SU System Board of Supervisors, he can be more definitive.

“Now we’re able to go back into the homes of the young men after Christmas and let them know, ‘hey we’re going to be here at least until you graduate,’ ” Odums said Friday, one day after agreeing to the new deal. “That’s great when you start talking to freshmen and transfers and even junior college players, that the coach that is recruiting them is going to be there. It projects a sense of stability in the program.”

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