Odom named Class 1A Coach of the Year
The Alabama Sports Writers Association selected Tharptown varisty boys head coach Jonathan Odom, right, as the Class 1A Coach of the Year. | Scot Beard/FCT
It was a year of firsts for the Tharptown varsity boys basketball team.
The Wildcats reached double-digit wins for the first time, defeated a ranked team for the first time, won the area tournament for the first time, won a sub-regional game on its first trip to the sub-regionals and made an appearance at the Northwest Regional Basketball Tournament at Wallace State for the first time.
“We’ve had a lot of firsts this year,” head coach Jonathan Odom said. “We’ve only had three years with varsity. It’s special when you can do something for the first time.”
Now the program can add another first as head coach Jonathan Odom was named the Class 1A Coach of the Year by the Alabama Sports Writers Association, becoming the first coach at Tharptown to each Coach of the Year honors.
This was a breakout season for the Wildcats, which had 27 wins in program history before the start of the season and had never won more than nine games in a single season. They won 23 games this year.
The season started slow for Tharptown, but things began to click during the Hatton Tournament and the Wildcats played the second half of the season with a mission.
“At the start of the season we wanted to play for the area and see what happened,” Odom said. “Midway through the season we decided we could be decent. Once we were able to win, we realized we would be able to beat anyone on our schedule.”
The Wildcats breezed through the rest of the regular season, played in the championship game of the Franklin County Tournament and beat ninth-ranked Belgreen in the Class 1A, Area 13 title.
Tharptown then knocked off Shoals Christian in the sub-regionals to earn a berth at Wallace State. Unfortunately the dream season came to an end for the Wildcats in the opening game with a loss to eventual state champion Pickens County.
Even with the loss Odom told his players to cherish the opportunity to play at Wallace State.
“I told them leading up to it that if they got to Wallace State, win or lose, they will remember it forever,” Odom said. “I felt that we had made a big accomplishment.”
Odom is no stranger to Wallace State or All-State honors. As a player at Phil Campbell he helped guide the Bobcats to the Northwest Regional Tournament and earned a spot on the Class 3A All-State First Team and was a finalist for the Class 3A Player of the Year.
Having experienced Wallace State as a player and a coach, Odom said he was much more nervous as a coach. He said as a player he has a direct influence on the outcome of the game, but as a coach all he can do is prepare his players and hope they execute.
The players executed well this season and helped their coach earn Coach of the Year honors. Odom feels the work his players put into making this season a success will carry over into next year and the program has a strong foundation to build on.
“We’ve had tough times taking losses to [R.A. Hubbard] and Hazlewood, but it helped us,” Odom said. “I hope we build on this. We did a good job getting it going. We have a winning mentality now.”
