Derrick Odum, the longest-tenured defensive coordinator in San Jose State history, has been fired with two games remaining, the team announced Monday.
Odum had overseen the Spartans’ defense since 2017, Brent Brennan’s first season. He had also been SJSU’s associate head coach for the past eight seasons.
Inside linebackers coach Bojay Filimoeatu will serve as interim defensive coordinator for the Spartans’ remaining games: Saturday at conference-leading San Diego State and Nov. 29 at home against Fresno State. The school also announced that Joe Palcic, the senior football analyst and special teams coordinator, also had been removed from his duties. Palcic was in his third season with the Spartans.
“We appreciate the contributions Derrick Odum and Joe Palcic have made to our program and wish them and their families the very best,” head coach Ken Niumatalolo, who is in his second season at San Jose State, said in a release issued by the school. “At this time, we believe a change is necessary to reinforce our commitment to excellence for our student-athletes, staff, and community. As a team, we remain unified in our mission to compete at the highest level and uphold the Spartan standard.”
The Spartans are 3-7 overall and 2-4 in Mountain West play, part of a three-way tie for eighth in the 12-team conference. The team was picked to finish third in the Mountain West preseason media poll and was attempting to become bowl eligible for the fourth consecutive season and fifth time in six years.
San Jose State’s hopes of becoming bowl eligible were officially dashed on Saturday in a 55-10 loss at Nevada. The Wolf Pack entered the game with a 16-game conference losing streak and, statistically, one of the least effective offenses in the Mountain West. Nevada became the seventh opponent this season to amass at least 400 yards against the Spartans. SJSU is ninth in the conference in total defense and has allowed 40 touchdowns, tied for the most with UNLV.
Odum helped build a defense that allowed just 17.8 points per game during the Spartans’ 2020 Mountain West Championship run. The Spartans were the second-best defense in the Mountain West in terms of yards per game allowed in 2023 with Odum as the play caller.
The Spartans defense had been known for making big plays under Odum. Last season SJSU had 28 takeaways, the most in the Mountain West fifth in the country. This season San Jose State has forced 11 turnovers, but the offense has lost 10 fumbles and thrown 10 interceptions.
Four of San Jose State’s first five losses this season were by a touchdown or less, and the Spartans led in the fourth quarter in each of those games. San Jose State blew a 12-point lead at Stanford, allowed 21 unanswered points in a 35-28 loss at Wyoming. The past two games the Spartans have been outscored 81-26.
Odum arrived at SJSU in 2017 with Brennan from Oregon State, where he had been the Beavers’ defensive backs coach. He entered the season as the fourth-longest active tenured defensive coordinator in the FBS level. He has coached at the college level for 26 seasons in all.
Under Odum, 48 Spartans defensive players earned all-conference awards and nine were selected in the NFL draft.