April 11, 2007

AZUSA, Calif. -- Bill Odell, one of college basketball's winningest active coaches, has resigned as the men's basketball head coach at Azusa Pacific University after 16 years at the Cougar helm.

Odell's decision marks the end of a head coaching career that has spanned 39 years and accumulated 856 victories, the last 454 at Azusa Pacific

"I am grateful for the many years I have had to coach young men. Now, though, is the proper time to transition to being a full-time athletic director." - Bill Odell, former head coach at Azusa Pacific University

"I am grateful for the many years I have had to coach young men," said Odell, who will turn 65 in May. "Now, though, is the proper time to transition to being a full-time athletic director, which will also offer me more time to spend with my wife, children and grandchildren."

Odell will continue in his role as Azusa Pacific's director of athletics, a position he has held in conjunction with being the men's basketball head coach since 1997. He has led the Cougar intercollegiate athletics program to back-to-back Directors' Cup titles, signifying Azusa Pacific as the premier athletics program in the NAIA over the past 2 years.

When Odell arrived at Azusa Pacific in the summer of 1991, few could envision the success that he would breathe into a basketball program that had fallen on hard times since a celebratory run from the 1960s through the early 1980s. In the 10 years prior to Odell's tenure, Azusa Pacific had enjoyed just 2 winning seasons. In Odell's first 10 seasons, all winning ones, he masterfully turned around the program, leading the Cougars to an unprecedented 9 consecutive Golden State Athletic Conference championships and 8 NAIA Tournament appearances, including back-to-back NAIA Fab Four appearances in 1998 and 1999.

He produced success on top of success and by the close of his collegiate coaching career this past spring, Odell had led Azusa Pacific to 13 GSAC crowns in 16 seasons. His teams garnered 13 NAIA Tournament berths, 4 of which ended in the NAIA Fab Four including a championship game appearance in 2005. He engineered 15 consecutive 20-win seasons, including 5 that reached the 30-win plateau.

"It's always been my belief not to make key decisions during a season," said Odell, "so I wanted to be a little removed from this season to honestly evaluate where I was in my thought process. Discussions with my wife and family combined with how I was feeling confirmed in my mind that now is the time to no longer coach."

Odell is college basketball's winningest men's coach over the past 16 seasons, claiming 454 victories to out-pace North Carolina's Roy Williams, who was second with 448 wins, and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, who was third with 439, in that same span of time. In addition, his Azusa Pacific coaching tenure closes with a won-loss record of 454-112 (.802), putting Odell in company with Krzyzewski (439-94/.824), Williams (448-106/.809) and Wooster's Steve Moore (389-77/.835) as the only college men's coaches with an .800 winning clip since 1991-92.

"Bill's legacy goes far beyond wins and losses", said Azusa Pacific President Dr. R. Wallace. "He has modeled for this community what it means to live as a person of conviction in his role as husband, father, coach and disciple. I am deeply grateful for the strong foundation he has established."

Odell came to Azusa Pacific in the summer of 1991 after 23 winning seasons on the local high school level. His first head coaching assignment was at Northview High in Covina, Calif., where he spent 3 seasons (1968-70) before moving on to Millikan High in Long Beach, Calif., where he spent the next 20 years (1971-91). In his 2 decades at Millikan, he guided the Rams to a dozen 20-win seasons, 6 Moore League titles, 13 CIF playoff berths, 4 CIF title game appearances and the 1989 CIF Southern Section 5A title. For his efforts he was named the 1989 CIF Coach of the Year, the Los Angeles Times South Coast coach of the Year twice, and Moore League Coach of the Year 6 times. He closed his prep coaching career with a 23-year record of 402-199 (.699) and at the time was the winningest high school coach in Long Beach history.

In his initial 1991-92 season at Azusa Pacific, Odell led Azusa Pacific to a 17-14 record, the second best record over the previous 10 years of the program, but what would prove to be the poorest showing by an Odell-coached Cougar team. For in that following season, Azusa Pacific began a run that would become unparalleled in school and GSAC history.

During that 1993 season, not only did Odell's Cougars win their first-ever conference title with the first and only perfect record (12-0) in GSAC history, they also posted the program's first 30-win season and in mid-February, following a then-school-record 16-game winning streak, found themselves ranked No. 1 in the NAIA for the first time ever. Since then, the Cougars have been a fixture in the NAIA Top 25, appearing in 109 of the past 111 NAIA Coaches' Polls, including the Top 10 in 75 of the past 90 polls.

Odell is a 6-time GSAC Coach-of-the-Year honoree, first garnering the prize in 1995 and then again in 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2006. His 2001 team posted the finest record in school history at 35-3, which included a 17-1 mark in GSAC play, and it advanced to the NAIA Elite Eight before narrowly falling to eventual national champion Faulkner (Ala.), 79-75. Led by GSAC Player of the Year T.J. Walker, Odell's 1998 squad went 34-5 (13-1 in the GSAC) and moved into the NAIA semifinals before eventual national champ Georgetown dropped the Cougars. In 1999, Azusa Pacific became the first GSAC school to make back-to-back Fab Four appearances, going 29-6 before eventual national champ Life (Ga.) nipped the Cougars in the final minute of play.

Odell's finest effort may have been in 1997 when he returned just 1 player from the prior year's GSAC championship squad and welcomed 11 new players. Yet, he fashioned a 29-8 record, another GSAC title, and guided the Cougars into the NAIA "Sweet 16." His performance in 2004 may be on par. Without a Cougar in the GSAC's top 15 in scoring and only 1 among the top 15 rebounders, the Cougars nonetheless captured the GSAC crown by winning 19 of 20 conference games, edging reigning NAIA champion Concordia. The Cougars went on to win the GSAC Postseason Tournament for the fifth time in 8 years.

Under Odell's direction, Azusa Pacific won 13 out of a possible 14 GSAC championships from 1993 to 2006. Including this past spring, he guided the Cougars to 12 straight NAIA Tournament appearances, the second longest active streak for any school, and with the Cougars' 91-88 victory over Park University in the second round of this year's NAIA Tournament in Kansas City, Mo., Odell became the NAIA Tournament's winningest active coach with 22 tournament victories.

Odell, who was the NAIA Coach-of-the-Year in 2005 and is a 6-time GSAC Coach-of-the-Year, has coached 21 NAIA All-Americans, 28 All-GSAC performers and 6 GSAC Players of the Year.

Combined with his 23-year high school career record, Odell's overall 39-year coaching record is 856-311 (.734).

For further information contact Gary Pine, Azusa Pacific sports information director at 626-815-5085 or gpine@apu.edu.