Favorite Verse: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

Whitney O’Dell came to Howard Payne in the fall of 2019 as a graduate assistant coach for the Lady Jackets but due to a full-time position opening up she was able to expand her role with the program.

O’Dell was offered a limited earnings position with the program just a couple of weeks into the semester and O’Dell has shined in the position ever since. 

She now works primarily on assisting Head Coach Yannick Denson with the every day operations of the program including scouting, recruiting, practice planning, travel itineraries, and monitoring academic progress.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
Before coming to HPU, Whitney worked as tournament director for ESP Basketball coordinating tournaments over a two state area averaging over 30 teams an event.
 
During her undergrad, Coach O’Dell played two seasons of college basketball at Lyon College in Batesville, AR. In her two years, O’Dell helped her team to an overall record of 58-10, winning the regular season title and the AMC conference tournament while advancing to the second round of the NAIA National Tournament. After transferring to University of Arkansas at Monticello following her sophomore year, O’Dell led her team in 3-point percentage (37.2) and 3 pointers made (48) in her senior season while also serving as the lone team captain. Graduated with a degree in Psychology and minor in Exercise Science.

 
As a student-athlete, she was also a member of UAM’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee in a leadership role and served as a Student Ambassador with the university.
 
O’Dell holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from UAM and is currently working on her graduate degree from Howard Payne at this time.