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Norfolk State University football coach Dawson Odums was fired Tuesday after winning 15 games over four seasons.
Norfolk State athletics director Melody Webb announced a change in leadership for the football program in a press release, saying Norfolk State was "relieving" Odums from his duties immediately.
UR just misses advantageous FCS playoffs seed, plays Saturday at home vs. Lehigh
An early release said NSU was "reassigning" Odums, but an hour later the school clarified to say he was released.
Odums was 15-30 through four seasons at the helm of the program. Odums tallied just one winning season as head coach, in 2021 when the Spartans went 6-5. Since then, Norfolk State has had a losing season in each of the last three years.
"I want to thank Coach Odums for his continued commitment and dedication to Spartan football," Webb said in the release. "Since his arrival, he has become a valued member of our family and community, always representing Norfolk State with dignity and class. We wish him nothing but the best moving forward."
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A source close to the Norfolk State program told The Pilot on Tuesday that Odums' ouster comes as a "bit of a surprise." The team received an email at 11:37 a.m. notifying them of a team meeting on Zoom with the AD at 11:45 a.m. on Tuesday, another source said. That same source said the meeting was to inform the team of Odums' firing. Norfolk State's release was sent out just after noon.
Odums' contract was set to expire in December of 2025. When asked if a potential extension could be in the works with Norfolk State athletics director Melody Webb last week, Odums said those conversations hadn't taken place yet.
"Nah, not really," Odums said regarding extension talks. "I don't really worry about it. My biggest thing is, can I get these guys to continue to play and grow in the right direction? And they're doing that. Everything takes care of itself. The process is, do what we supposed to (and) everything else is gonna take care of itself. And that's all we can do -- is put ourselves in a better position."
In that same press conference Odums said he didn't feel any added pressure to win next season.
"I think it's, every year, you're trying to win," Odums said. "That's no matter what. No matter what you face, no matter what you're under, you're trying to win every year and that's the bottom line. ... We're so close. We're so close and I think they feel that, and they see that. A few plays here and there, we'll be talking totally different. Injuries hit us in the middle of this year, but we had to play through them. Next guy got to step up and make a play. And we didn't have enough guys step up and make plays in those games."
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