Mizzou’s Barry Odom sits down with Cusumano, talks first season as head coach, recruiting

Missouri Tigers head football coach Barry Odom stopped by the 590 The Fan Studios on Thursday for an in-depth sit-down interview with Frank Cusumano. Odom covers his first season as head coach and discusses his recruiting efforts and vision for the future of the program. Listen to the complete interview and read a couple excerpts below: Did it surprise you how much time you had to spend on non-football type things as the head coach of Mizzou’s football team? “Stepping into the job, there’s going to be things that come across your desk that may be a bit unexpected. Our team is eventually going to take over that culture and that mindset. But there’s going to be days that they don’t. The time management of being the head coach…I knew some of those things would happen because Gary included me in some of those decisions. I didn’t know some of the things that throughout the state, throughout the country, the obligations of making sure you’re in constant communication with a number of people (who help our program). The time commitment on those things can be a little bit overwhelming.” What advice has Gary Pinkel given you? “We talk quite a bit. He comes around the office. I respect him so much because he wants to make sure I have my space. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the way he carried out his career. The thing I have tried to do as close to him as I can is his organizational skills. I’ve admired that for a number of years. His consistency and the way he was organized.” What would you change about your first season? “You always look back…and you think about a couple calls. I thought we lost Georgia on the last play of the game defensively. The play didn’t work. That game affected the end of the year. There were a couple things as the head coach, you want a couple do-overs. There are a lot of things that will continue to motivate me over my career. I don’t want (my players to go through bad times. That affects me).”