BELTON, TX — The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football program has added Demo Odems to the coaching staff, Cru Head Coach Pete Fredenburg announced Tuesday (May 7th). Odems joined the staff in late April and will coach running backs for UMHB.
Odems joins the Cru after spending last season as offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach at Division II Missouri Southern State University. He also spent one season as offensive coordinator and receivers coach at UMHB’s American Southwest Conference rival, East Texas Baptist University. Odems spent three years at Stephen F. Austin University as wide receivers coach before joining ETBU. The Lumberjacks qualified for the Division I FCS playoffs during his tenure and Odems also coached a pair of All-Southland Conference receivers. Odems coached running backs for two years at Montana State, where he coached for a Big Sky Conference Co-Champion and worked with an All-American. Odems also has collegiate coaching stops at Arkansas-Monticello and the University of Wisconsin. He also was a head coach on the high school level at Austin Johnston and Austin LBJ High Schools.
“I have high regard for Coach Fredenburg, having watched him from afar and coaching against him,” Odems said. “Seeing that culture he developed was really something I wanted to be a part of. I knew what to expect coming in. Now, I am trying to hold up my end of the bargain and try to add to the equation here in a successful program.”
Odems is a 1996 graduate of the University of Iowa with a degree in Sport, Health, Leisure and Physical Studies. He was a four-year letterman for the Hawkeyes as a wide receiver and played for a pair of Alamo Bowl champions. Odems also has a Master’s Degree in Kinesiology from Texas A&M-Commerce. He played professionally for the Texas Terminators of the Indoor Football League and spent one season with the Grand Rapids Rampage of the Arena Football League. Odems won the Iron Man Award after playing wide receiver, defensive back and linebacker in leading the Rampage to a victory in Arena Bowl XV. Odems is a native of Austin, Texas. He replaces Nathaniel Hogge on the UMHB coaching staff. Hogge is now offensive coordinator at Widener University.
