Mizzou fires Barry Odom

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The University of Missouri has fired Barry Odom as its football coach, a source confirmed to ABC 17 News. MU officially announced the decision Saturday morning. Gabe DeArmond of PowerMizzou first reported the news.

Odom was 25-25 overall and 13-19 in the SEC in his four seasons as head coach. He took the Tigers to two bowl games - he was eligible for three. Mizzou has named Brick Haley as the interim head coach.

"I want to thank Coach Odom for his contributions to our program," Mizzou athletic director Jim Sterk said in a statement. "He and his staff have worked diligently during the past four years."

Watch Jim Sterk's 4 p.m. press conference here:

Odom spent 18 seasons at Mizzou as a player, assistant and head coach.

Sterk added, "Coach Odom has represented our program with integrity and dedicated himself to developing our student-athletes on and off the football field for which we are grateful. We wish the very best for him and his family in their future endeavors."

This season - Odom went 6-6 overall and 3-5 in the SEC. On Friday, he led MU to a 24-14 win over Arkansas to finish out the season. The Tigers are not bowl eligible due to NCAA sanctions, which were upheld on Tuesday.

More from Sterk: "As a program, we had tremendous momentum coming into the 2019 season with the opening of the new south end zone facility as well as other strategic investments in our football program. However, we lost a great deal of that energy during the last half of the season. This decision was difficult to make but was necessary. Mizzou enjoys a winning football tradition and has the necessary resources and commitment to compete at the highest level. We strive to achieve excellence, and we expect to compete for Southeastern Conference titles, consistently play in the postseason and represent Mizzou the right way on and off the field."

Sterk concluded, "A national search is underway and confidentiality during the process is critical. Thus, I will have no further public comments regarding the search process until the announcement of our next head football coach is made."

Many current and former Mizzou football players took to Twitter to react to the news of Odom's departure.