The names of the players change, but the success remains the same. Success that is unequalled not just in university history, but in conference history as well.
Azusa Pacific's 20-win seasons, GSAC championships and NAIA tournament berths are as constant as a heartbeat. Yet the only human element that runs a common thread throughout the Cougars' amazing run near the top of the NAIA is the head coach –- Bill Odell.
Odell, who engineered Azusa Pacific's turnaround, is now the curator of a dominant program. Statistically speaking, he is an elite class of current collegiate basketball coaches. Not only is his level of achievement rare but so too is the consistency of his success. In fact, it may be that consistency that is more mind-boggling than the statistics themselves. Nonetheless, consider these numbers.
In 14 seasons at Azusa Pacific, Odell was won a staggering 80-percent of his games. He has produced 13 consecutive 20-win campaigns, which includes 4 that reached the 30-win plateau, and he averages 28 victories a season against just 7 losses. Twelve of his teams have qualified for the 32-team NAIA National Championship Tournament, including the past 10 in a row. Four of his teams -- the 1998, 1999, 2002 and 2005 squads -- reached the NAIA Fabulous Four with last year's team becoming the first in school history to play for the NAIA title. For his effort, Odell was named the 2005 NAIA Coach of the Year.
Locally, Odell's numbers only get better. He has led Azusa Pacific to the Golden State Athletic Conference championship a record 12 times in the past 13 years, including an unprecedented 9 straight from 1993 to 2001. In 1993 he guided the Cougars to the first and still only undefeated season in GSAC history, and since then he has had 4 other 1-loss conference slates, including 2004 with a 19-1 mark which set the record for the most conference wins in a season. His 2001 and 2002 teams strung together a 20-game GSAC winning streak, the longest in conference history. In what many consider to be the strongest basketball conference in the NAIA, Odell has avoided the landmines and pitfalls to win 187 of 222 GSAC games for an impressive .842 winning clip. There is no mistaking the fact that the man can coach.
Odell came to Azusa Pacific in the summer of 1992 after 23 winning seasons on the local high school level. His impact on Cougar basketball was not only immediate, it was also quite powerful. Prior to Odell's arrival, Azusa Pacific basketball had fallen on hard times after a celebratory run from the late 1960s through the early 1980s. The Cougars had enjoyed just 1 winning season in the previous 9 campaigns, going 114-176 (.393) in the process. In Odell's first 9 seasons, all winning ones, he masterfully turned the program around, carving a 244-60 (.803) record while capturing 8 GSAC titles, including the program's first-ever in 1993, Odell's second year at the helm. During that 1993 season, not only did Odell's Cougars win a conference title, they also posted the program's first 30-win season and in mid-February, following a then-school-record 16-game winning streak, Azusa Pacific found itself ranked No. 1 in the NAIA for the first time ever. Since then, the Cougars have been a fixture in the NAIA Top 25. Odell's Cougars have appeared in 85 of the past 87 NAIA Coaches' Polls and have been ranked in the Top 10 in 56 of the past 66 polls, including the final poll of the 2004 season which had the Cougars at No. 2 in the nation.
Odell is a 5-time GSAC Coach-of-the-Year honoree, first garnering the prize in 1995 and then again in 1998, 2001, 2003 and 2004. His 2001 team posted the finest recorded in school history, going 35-3 which included a 17-1 mark in GSAC play, and advanced to the NAIA Elite Eight before narrowly falling to eventual national champion Faulkner (Ala.), 79-75. Led by GSAC Player of the Year T.J. Walker, Odell's 1998 squad went 34-5 (13-1 in the GSAC) and moved into the NAIA semifinals before eventual national champ Georgetown dropped the Cougars. In 1999, Azusa Pacific became the first GSAC school to make back-to-back Fab Four appearances, going 29-6 before eventual national champ Life (Ga.) again nipped the Cougars in the final minute of play. Odell's finest effort may have been in 1997 when he returned just 1 player from the prior year's GSAC championship team and welcomed 11 new players. Yet, he fashioned a 29-8 record, another GSAC title, and guided the Cougars into the NAIA “Sweet 16.” His performance in 2004 may be on par. Without a single player in the GSAC's top 15 in scoring and only 1 among the top 15 rebounders, the Cougars nonetheless captured the GSAC crown by winning 19 of 20 conference games, edging reigning NAIA champion Concordia. The Cougars went on to win the GSAC Postseason Tournament for the fifth time in the past 8 years, this time crushing Concordia by 25 (66-41) in the championship game.
"I believe that basketball is a microcosm of life," said Odell. "It is my responsibility to put players in situations where they can succeed."
Against Azusa Pacific's 3 chief rivals -- Biola, Concordia and Westmont -- Odell is a combined 68-31 (.687), which includes a fine 20-10 vs. arch-rival Biola. Out of conference play, Odell coached Azusa Pacific to victories over eventual NAIA champion Hawaii Pacific in 1993, defending NCAA Division II champion Cal State Bakersfield in 1994, defending NAIA champions Faulkner (2002), Concordia (twice in 2004) and Mountain State (2005).
Odell has coached 6 GSAC Players of the Year who include Ronnie Winbush (1994), Raymond Tutt (1995), Eric Wattree (1996), T.J. Walker (1998 and 1999), Kevin Daley (2000) and Caleb Gervin (2003).
By nature, Odell is humorous yet reserved and even-keeled. The Los Angeles Times once said that he is "a study in moderation ... devoid of the irate outbursts common in many coaches. Odell's reputation extends far beyond merely being a sound basketball technician." On the court, he favors a high-power, high-octane offense that relies more on speed than bulk. His 1993 and 1994 teams were the highest scoring at Azusa Pacific in more than 20 years, with the 1994 Cougars setting a GSAC record by averaging 98.1 points while eclipsing the 100-point barrier a school-record 16 times (including 5 straight).
"I'm the kind of coach that likes a fast-paced, up-tempo, full-court offense," Odell said. "Dictating the tempo of a game, I believe, leads to team success. We try to take advantage of mismatches and create a lot of off-the-ball movement."
Odell came to Azusa Pacific from Millikan High in Long Beach, Calif., where he served as varsity basketball coach from 1971-1991 and as athletic director from 1976-1991. During his 20-year tenure, Millikan compiled 350 victories, making Odell the winningest coach in Long Beach high school history. Counting a 3-year stint at Northview High in Covina (1968-1970), Odell notched a 402-199 (.669) record in his 23 years on the prep level.
In addition to his exceptional record, Odell coached Millikan to a dozen 20-win seasons, 6 Moore League titles, 13 CIF playoff berths, 4 CIF title game appearances, and the 1989 CIF Southern Section 5A Championship. For his efforts, he was named the 1989 CIF Coach of the Year, the Los Angeles Times South Coast Coach of the Year twice, and was the first ever 2-time winner of the YMCA High School Coach of the Year (1974 and 1989). He was also named Moore League Coach of the Year 6 times.
Odell began his career in 1965 as an assistant varsity and head junior varsity coach at Westmont College, serving famed Warrior coach Tom Byron for 3 years.
Odell was a star athlete at Huntington Park, (Calif.) High, earning letters in basketball and baseball.
In basketball, he won All-L.A. City honors and was named 1960 Eastern League Player of the Year. He played his collegiate ball at Westmont, where he was an All-NAIA District guard. He received a bachelor's degree in 1964, and in 1972 earned his master's in physical education administration at USC.
Along with his coaching duties, Odell also serves as Azusa Pacific's director of athletics, a position he has held since 1996. Of Azusa Pacific's 9 head coaches, excluding himself, Odell has brought 7 of them on staff since he took over the as athletics director. Under Odell's watch, Azusa Pacific is the only NAIA school in the United States to finish in the NACDA Director's Cup top 10 every year since the award's program 1996 inception. During that stretch Azusa Pacific has won 9 NAIA national championships in football, women's soccer, men's track & field and women's track & field and been the runner-up in softball, men's tennis and women's tennis.
Bill and his wife, Gayle, live in La Verne, Calif. They have 2 adult children, a son Dave, who played basketball for his dad at Millikan and then was a 4-year letterman at Westmont, and a daughter, Susie Maga, who earned her master's at Azusa Pacific and was an All-American volleyballer at Westmont. She is currently the girls' varsity head volleyball coach at St. Margaret's High School in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. The Odells have 2 granddaughters, Raynee and Rallie Odell, and 3 grandsons, Walker Odell and Jacob and Matthew Maga.
