Search for the next head coach begins

 
Spike Lee couldn’t write a better script for the Southern Jaguars 2012 football season. Multiple players returning next season said they hope to see their interim head coach Dawson Odums return to the sidelines full-time next season.
The hard part comes next for Southern-finding the right coach and investing in him. Odums doesn’t seem rattled by any of this. Does he know something?
SU first-year athletic director William Broussard met with the media before the Bayou Classic to discuss the search. He said the search has been aggressive and competitive.
“There’s going to be about 30 to 40 athletic directors looking for a football coach for their program,” Broussard said. He said Southern had generated a flow of applications and would move to a national search this week.
“You’re competing to find the best possible candidate for the position,” said Broussard. “You’re putting together your committee, identifying what you think are going to be the keys to success.”
Broussard said SU has put together its committee and will work aggressively in naming a new coach by mid-December.  
Odums took over as head coach of Southern on an interim basis when the university decided to reassign Stump Mitchell September 14. Under Odums, the Jaguars finished the season 4-5 and tied for second in the West Division. Mitchell went 6-16 in two seasons.
Odums coached the team to back-to-back wins over rivals Jackson State, Florida A&M and Grambling State, which snapped the school’s four-game Bayou Classic losing streak.
“I really believe I am the head coach,” Odums told the media during the annual Bayou Classic press conference. “I’m doing all of the work of a head coach. I was only interim for one game. I know that it’s not my decision.”
Odums joined the Jaguars Spring 2010, hired as the defensive line coach to help improve the teams’ defense under Mitchell. He’d previously coached North Carolina A&T.
Many believe Odums’ candidacy for the full-time job greatly improved when the Jaguars started winning again. Not to mention, Odums has the backing of many underclassmen, including defensive back Virgil Williams and quarterback Dray Joseph.
Williams said before the game he wanted to “continue playing for him.”
“He’s pushed us hard and made us step up our game,” Williams said. ” He’s a guy who stands for discipline.”
“The slow starts make it an uphill climb,” interim head coach Dawson Odums said, whose team has been outscored 211-96 in the first half this season. “Considering we went through a coaching change, we didn’t know which way the team was going to go.”