Missouri fires HC Barry Odom

Missouri announced the firing of head coach Barry Odom on Saturday after four seasons.

The Tigers finished 6-6 in 2019, including 3-5 in SEC play.

"Coach Odom has represented our program with integrity and dedicated himself to developing our student-athletes on and off the football field for which we are grateful," athletic director Jim Sterk said in a statement. "We wish the very best for him and his family in their future endeavors.

"As a program, we had tremendous momentum coming into the 2019 season with the opening of the new south end zone facility as well as other strategic investments in our football program," Sterk said. "However, we lost a great deal of that energy during the last half of the season. This decision was difficult to make but was necessary."

Odom was promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach in 2016 and accumulated a 25-25 record with no bowl wins. His squad never finished higher than third place in the SEC East division during his tenure.

The move was expected, as Missouri reportedly started vetting candidates in the weeks leading up to its final game.

Sterk, who didn't hire Odom, is expected to lean toward an experienced, offensive-minded candidate as his next coach, according to Yahoo Sports' Pete Thamel.