Odoms steps down

Rob Odoms stepped down as Dunedin’s girls basketball coach after 11 seasons at the school. Odoms was the fourth longest-tenured coach behind Keswick Christian's Karrmayne King, Clearwater's Tom Shaneyfelt and Gibbs' Ed Jackson. "I was proud that I was able to get nine girls scholarships during my time there," Odoms said. Dustin Bengston replaces Odoms as coach. In January of 2006, Bengston, a former girls basketball and football coach at Palm Harbor University, was banned from the county from coaching for using profanity and intimidating remarks toward students. He was reinstated later that year and has spent the past two seasons as an assistant football coach at Dunedin. -- BOB PUTNAM

Comments

[Joe]

Interesting. Why did this happen so late in the year?

[Tom]

Tenured? Jackson has only been at Gibbs 3 years, before that he 'took a year off' and before that was at Lakewood. That's hardly tenured. Has he coached a long time? Yes, but tenured is certainly the wrong term.

[Ryan]

Rob did not step down. He was asked to leave despite doing an outstanding job at Dunedin over the years. This is another example of a new regime putting their people in place at Dunedidn. Rob is a hard working guy who is a good coach. He will resurface somewhere else in the county. It's probably for the best since the coaches still can't get keys to the gym in the off season.

Here is why the Times is so weak. They just give you information but never have a deep story or go after a 'bigger' story. This is just another example. There is more to this story, that is for sure....but the Times in nowhere to be seen.

[Prep Fan]

Tom,

You do not have your facts right. Coach Jackson has been a girls coach for over 20 years. He was girls coach at Pinellas Park. He had a run in which he took the girls to the state tourney at PP.

[Tom]

Tenure: The status of holding one's position on a permanent basis without periodic contract renewals.

The key is permanent basis. Yes, he's coached for 20 years but he's only been at Gibbs for 3 in a row. It's no big deal, it was just misleading. I believe they were trying to make a point of which coaches have been at their current schools the longest......and he's only been there 3 years, with a break of 1 year in between.

Good Luck Rob. Youve been a good friend and a great coach.

That is 2 head Basketball Coaches from Dunedin stepping down within a year. First Josh Walker, Dunedin's Boys Varsity Coach, and now Rob Odom, Dunedin's Girls Varsity Coach. So the 2007-2008 Basketball season will see 2 new head coaches at Dunedin HS. There is definitely something wrong at Dunedin. One starts with the administration not giving the coaches keys for the gym (trust goes a long way in a relationship Mr. Summa). And the best they could find for the girls is someone who was banned from coaching and then reinstated?!!!