Giddings Head Football Coach John Odell Resigns

[BigTime]

John Odell, from various sources resigned last night from Giddings High School. Looks like Giddings ran another coach out of town.

[turbostud]

Mindy should be happy about that! :D

[bigcat8]

Are you sure? Many thought Coach O'dell would weather the storm...

[big daddy russ]

That sucks.

[BigTime]

Coach Odell is out.......Everybody in Giddings is celebrating......the bigwigs got what they wanted.

[HotDawg89]

That is a shame. Afterall- he is just a man-probably has a family that is going through a lot because of this.

Don't know much about the whole situation, and I don't pretend to- but this is sad.

[BigTime]

Like Mindy always said....."Better Field a Team in Lee County or the residents will have your hide!"
From what I have heard through some people is that he had some legal issues and safty issues rise to the surface that could not be placed under the rug.
The BigWigs forced him to resign. It's sad for the families and the other coaches and their families. But, being the coaching profession, you have to be able to take those risks.

[Jacket2000]

Maybe someone who wants to beat Giddings will hire him.
J2K

[2001GiddingsLB]

Well I guess we'll never get to see what a second Odell season would of brought forth. Oh well, this will be the 4 coach in the past 6 yrs. for Giddings. It seems a team that has gone to the semifinals twice in the past 5 yrs. and hasn't missed the playoffs in any of those yrs. could garner a coach that would hang around more than 2 yrs.

[Chris Hart]

I knew from the beginning of last football season, that Coach Odell wouldn't be in Giddings very long. I hate it when 'Bigwigs' get their way. I would love to see him hire on as a head coach at a school that frequently plays Giddings, and see him beat them year after year. I have nothing against Giddings, but I'm not real fond of 'Bigwigs'. That is a real shame! :mad:

[Chucky Rules]

Chris,
Funny you should say that because from what I have heard that may be a possibility. And please do not forget that wherever he goes he will take his son who just happens to be the best football player in his class (Sr. to be). Do not be surprised to see the two of them on the opposite sideline from the Buffaloes next year.

[BigTime]

Jonathon Lehmann #86 is the best player coming up in the class. He is coming surgery, but should have a standout senior year. Odell's sone was good, but he won't be in Giddings.

I doubt that Odell will beat Giddings.......but, you never know....thats why they play game. Its sad though for the families of the coaches.
But, thats the coaching profession.

But, Odell has done some things that have caused him to put in his resignation. It was just not the "BigWigs' causing this. Over 60 people went to the school board a few weeks ago asking for Odell's job. Many of them were injury issues that Odell did not properly take care off. Odell had it coming and the people of Giddings had enough.

[sportsfan03]

There is a LITTLE man in the vicinity of Buffalo country I am sure some would love to see go any direction. (N, S, E, or W) But those eyes are on a bigger fish.

[football]

this is why giddings never can have back to back winning seasons they are all ways changing coaches over there who they going to get this time

[big daddy russ]

2001GiddingsLB... I hope your program gets someone they can stick with. There's a lot of tradition up there that I'd hate to see slip away.

[BigTime]

In Odell's resignation he stated that people made up lies about him to get uprooted out of Giddings. That statement right there is a lie. Giddings parents went to the school board having 11 safety issues against Odell and his coaching staff. Odell did not report a concussion of a kid to his parents and then when the kid proceeded to go home, the kids parents did not know what was wrong with him. They had to take him to the emergency room. Another football player had injured his leg and one of Odell's staff members gave this kid his own prescription medicine for him to take. Another issue brought up was Odell made the freshmen football players unload a large mat for the gym. Goodson's, a lumber company in Giddings, offered to unload it for them and Mr. Masek, Giddings Principle, told Odell to let them unload. No, Odell makes the freshmen unload the mat and the kid breaks his shoulder while unloading the mat. The kid is lucky he was not hurt worse than he was. Odell also did not have a banquet this year for the fall sports. He said his kids did not deserve it. Great way to show your kids for the hard work they put in during the season. But, the cross country team had a state champion runner and she did not get honored. He destroyed tradition and by the way he went 3-8.

[oldbuff78]

Well, the big-wigs that should have never hired him, at least got rid of him. If they would have done homework on him last year, those kids and parents would not be going through this. Giddings is a good place to live and coach. Don't all of you make up a bunch of dumb stuff and blow this all out of text. I will say one thing for those people in Giddings, they are like everybody else, they want the best!! I just talked to a coach in Newton and you know how they would react if those kids in Newton were treated unfairly. Coach Barbay it 10 times the man that O'dell could ever be.

[buffalo booster]

Before this gets into a Giddings bashing from folks who probably don't know the situation...

Odell's resignation had nothing to do with this year's football season. True, 3-8 was tough to live through, but the kids played hard and they were in almost every game till late, even in the playoffs against a superior Bellville squad.

During the season, a number of kids were injured. Not all of these injuries were handled appropriately by the coaching staff. A number of parents were understandably upset. And, as noted in a previous posting, a number of parents and other members of the community met with the GISD superintendent a few weeks ago in order to voice their concerns.

For a variety of reasons, Coach Odell lost the respect of his players and the support of the community. I believe that he did the "right thing" in submitting his resignation. Today's paper indicates that he also believed that he could have been fired at the next School Board meeting.

Early in the football season, I was one of Coach Odell's strongest supporters. (If you are bored, you can look up some of those postings.) During the year, however, my confidence in him waned.

I don't believe that it would be appropriate to air all of our dirty laundry on this forum. I wish Coach Odell the best of luck in his future endeavors. And, I strongly believe that his leaving may prove to be good for both him and his family, and also for the Giddings community.

[2001GiddingsLB]

I just hope wherever Odell goes he is successful, clearly Giddings just wasn't the place for him. I also hope that the way that people talked about him or "got him fired" doesn't reflect poorly on Giddings for future coaching candidates.

[maskedassassin]

BigTime,

Are you aware that spreading lies in print, or on the internet, can get you in court for libel? That means defacing someones character using a public media. Those stories that you have heard are the same ones that caused Odell to feel the need to resign. If no coach informed the family of their son getting hurt why did the mother call the school the next day to thank that particular coach for his concern?
This was a personality conflict and difference of opinions between a mother and Odell. The story like so many others was blown out of proportion. The medicine story is just that, a good story, obviously made up by someone who wanted to feel cool and have their own Odell horror story. The mat story was a somewhat true one at least closer than the others. Odell has admitted a bad decision in having the Freshmen carry the mat. He has had Jr. High kids carry one the same size before without incident but the wet conditions that day caused an accident, he has admitted this poor judgement. But not prior to the accident was Odell informed that help was available in unloading the mat. I think the thing about the sports banquet has already been addressed but to sum it up for you Odell never stated that the kids didn't deserve it. It came down to a decision by the school and booster club to combine the banquet at the end of the year. This is done in many schools and didn't seem like a big deal at the time. But never, not ever was the statement made that the team didn't deserve it.
What I don't understand is why can't everyone let it go? Giddings got what it wanted, Odell has resigned. It obviously wasn't a good fit for him and whatever reasons he had for resigning I'm sure were done in the best interest of his family and GISD. Remember that a lot of people are hurting because of this. The coaches families who came to Giddings will leave with a bad taste in their mouths of the place but this too shall pass. The kids that are left behind are learning to never trust anyone because they now have had two coaches leave on them in their HS careers. And the town of Giddings is hurting because of the negative publicity this has brought on. Hopefully a good strong coach can come in and right things before it becomes an example of what an athletic program shouldn't be. This will be an important hire for the board, the decision they make will affect Giddings for many years. For the kids sake, lets hope they get it right. If you feel the need to bash Odell further then I guess you are a lesser person for it. If you feel the need to bash me for my views go ahead. I just like for the truth to be out there and hate to see the town portrayed this way. As 2001LB said, this whole mess could severly hurt Giddings chances of hiring a quality coach. Leave it alone, let it go away for the sake of Giddings football.

[oldbuff78]

Giddings will have no trouble hiring a great 4 or 5a asst. coach. There alot of good ones like McCaig and Ivey waiting to get there first head job. Lets just hope the board pulls there head out this time!!!

[BigTime]

I would like to say I am sorry for my recent post. I do not know all the information but these are the comments that I have heard coming out of Giddings. I understand the coaches are hurting and their families. Coaching is a tough profession and its not easy to lost job no matter who you are or what your doing. Im sorry, I was just angry and blew up on the site. I wish Coach Odell and his coaches the best of luck where ever they may go. And hopefully the people of Giddings can move forward.