Odell Witherspoon III enters his first season as an assistant coach on the Lions staff.
The 2000 University of North Carolina at Charlotte graduate has spent the past eight seasons as an assistant, the past seven on the collegiate level. Among the players he has helped developed is Hassan Whiteside of the Miami Heat.
Witherspoon comes to Southeastern from Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach, Fla., where he served as recruiting coordinator, academic liaison and living quarters director. In his one season at Palm Beach, he assisted head coach Martin McCann in leading the squad to a 24-8 record that included a second place finish in the Region 8 Southern Conference and the Southern Conference Tournament championship. Palm Beach ranked as high as No. 3 in the NJCAA national rankings and advanced to the Region 8 Tournament semifinals. Witherspoon also helped develop first-team All-Conference performers Joe Powell and Shawntrez Davis.
Prior to Palm Beach, Witherspoon spent three seasons as an assistant at North Carolina A&T in Greensboro, N.C., where he served as assistant recruiting coordinator, assistant defensive coordinator and lead coach in the development of post players. He helped develop Bruce Beckford, a 2013 MEAC All-Freshman selection, and Austin Witter, the 2013 MEAC Defensive Player of the Year and a third-team All-MEAC pick.
The 2012-13 North Carolina A&T squad won the MEAC title, advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1995 and became the first Aggie team to win an NCAA Tournament game in nine tries while recording its first 20-win season since 1987-88.
Witherspoon started his collegiate coaching career at Gulf Coast Community College in Panama City, Fla., where he served as the recruiting coordinator, academic liaison and living quarters director from 2009-12. He helped head coach Jay Powell lead the team to an 18-11 record and a third-place finish in the Panhandle Conference in 2009-10. Gulf Coast sent 13 sophomores on to four-year institutions – 11 to Division I – during his tenure.
Witherspoon’s coaching career started at The Patterson School in Lenoir, N.C. in 2008-09. He assisted head coach Chris Chaney in leading the team to a 34-3 record and the No. 1 prep school ranking for most of that season. Seven members of that team went on to the Division I level. Witherspoon also coached the men’s “B” team.
Witherspoon has also served as the client relations manager and a marketing intern for the McNeil Sports Group in Houston, Texas; as basketball operations coordinator for the Momentum Sports Group in San Antonio, Texas; and as an administrative intern for the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, N.C.
Witherspoon earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte in 2000.
