Concordia University introduced Trisha Stafford-Odom as the ninth women’s basketball coach in program history in 2013-14. She took over an Eagles program that hadn’t made the NAIA Tournament since 1997. In her second season the Eagles went 23-7 and won their first GSAC Championship since 1997. They advanced to the NAIA National Championship Second Round, winning the first tournament game in school history. She has coached two all-americans, two all-conference selections, and was the 2014-15 GSAC Coach of the Year.
Stafford-Odom came most recently as an assistant coach from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC. She had been with the Tar Heels since 2011 and signed three consecutive #1 nationally ranked recruiting classes. Her teams were perennially ranked top-10 nationally. She worked under Naismith Hall of Fame coach Sylvia Hatchell.
Prior to UNC, Stafford-Odom was an assistant with Duke University in Durham, NC, another ACC women’s basketball powerhouse. Stafford-Odom was with the Blue Devils from 2009-2011 and brought in back-to-back #1 recruiting classes. Duke won the ACC Championship in 2011 and 2010. Before her time in the ACC, Stafford-Odom was an assistant at UCLA from 2005-2008, including time as the recruiting coordinator from 2007-2008, bringing in the #3 nationally ranked recruiting class in 2008. In addition to her time at UCLA, Duke, and North Carolina, Stafford-Odom spent three seasons (2002-05) as the head coach at Westchester High School in Los Angeles where she tutored more than 10 players who earned college scholarships.
A four-year letter winner at the University of California, Berkeley, Stafford-Odom ranks among the best players in Cal women's basketball history. The Los Angeles native scored 1,530 points in her career in just three seasons, good for ninth in school history. She also ranks among the school's top 10 in scoring average, field goal attempts, field goals made, free throw attempts and free throws made.
Stafford-Odom was a two-time first-team All-Pac 10 selection in 1991 and 1992 and led the Golden Bears to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances. During her senior season, she averaged a conference-best 22.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game en route to earning honorable mention on the prestigious Kodak All-America team. She was also named to the school's 1986-96 All-Decade Team.
Stafford-Odom played two seasons in the WNBA with Houston (2001) and Miami (2002). She also appeared with San Jose and Long Beach in the ABL as well as overseas in Italy, Spain, Israel, Brazil and Puerto Rico.
In 2013 she was enshrined into the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame. She earned her bachelor’s from the University of California, Berkeley in mass communications in 1992. Trisha is married to DeWayne and the couple has two sons, Amari and Trajen.
