Eaglettes helped her lay the
foundation for her career.
“One of the things that he
really taught me how to do was
scout a game from the bleachers,”
Odom explained. “When
I’d get back with my information,
he didn’t just say, ‘What do
they do?’ It was always, ‘What
should we do against them?’
“He really taught me how
to watch film, and break it
down and put it into scouting
reports,” she added. “He made
me do a lot of that when I was
an assistant, and I carried that
over as a head coach.”
Worrell concurred, “I liked
to challenge our coaches. When
I was scouting another team, I’d
scout the other coach because I
wanted to see their techniques,
what they were doing, and how
they were handling their team.
What did they do at certain
times in the game? Besides their
offense and defense, I wanted
to see what their substitutions
were, how strong their bench
was. And Mindy saw that too.
She was really good as far as defensively
how to attack a team.”
Chip Off The Old Block
Odom said Worrell’s mentorship
had a direct effect on the
style she played on both sides
of the ball.
“Offensively, Coach Worrell
always liked to get in the
high-low, and that was my favorite,”
she said. “He taught
me how to teach that and how
to be successful with that. He
was always a good defensive
coach, and I felt like he pushed
me in all areas to see how my
mind worked and see if I could
answer those questions he was
asking.”
Worrell said watching
Odom’s teams were like watching
the player she was for Tech.
“Mindy, when you watched
her teams play, they were always
well-prepared and disciplined,”
he said. “Everything about her
is what you saw in her teams.”
Odom said offensive and
defensive styles weren’t the only
things that rubbed off on her
from her time with Worrell.
“I took a lot from him when
I started coaching high school.
As a head coach, I didn’t realize
it until people started telling
me,” she said with a laugh.
“People said I acted like him a
little bit. I said, ‘You’ve got to be
kidding me. I’m not stomping
around over there.’ And they
10 Healthy Living | Winter Issue | 2017–2018