Norfolk State University hopes Coach Dawson Odums can do for the Spartans what he did for the Southern University Jaguars.

In a Zoom news conference April 21, Coach Odums, 46, was named NSU’s head football coach.

According to published reports, Coach Odums signed a five-year contract for $240,000 annually.

A native of Shelby, N.C., Coach Odums succeeds Latrell Scott, who resigned earlier this year from NSU to accept a position at East Carolina University.

Coach Odums will arrive in Hampton Roads with sparkling credentials.

As head coach at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., Coach Odums posted an overall 10-season record of 63-35 that included a 53-17 mark against competitors in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

His Jaguars won the SWAC Championship in 2013 while also claiming SWAC Western Division titles on three other occasions.

“This is a new day and a new beginning for Spartans football,” said NSU President Javaune Adams-Gaston.“I believe he will bring new energy to NSU that will benefit our student-athletes.”

As a player, Coach Odums starred at Creek High School in Boiling Springs, N.C., and later at North Carolina Central University, where he earned All-CIAA honors as a senior linebacker.

“I am grateful and excited to be the next football coach at NSU,” Coach Odums said. “Together we will rise. Go Spartans!”

While at Southern, Coach Odums’ players excelled on the field and in the classroom. During his tenure, six Jaguars signed with either NFL or Canadian Football League teams. That includes SWAC all-time leading rusher Lenard Tillery and Southern’s all-time leader in receiving yards and return touchdowns, Willie Quinn.

Academically, 57 Jaguars earned dean’s list honors during the 2020 fall semester.

Coach Scott departed NSU after posting a 21-35 overall record — 17-22 in MEAC — over five seasons. Coach Scott previously had been the head coach at the University of Richmond and Virginia State University.

For Coach Odums, this is something of a lateral move. The MEAC and SWAC are the NCAA’s only two historically Black Division I conferences.

Coach Odums went out with a bang at Southern. In going 5-1 in SWAC’s spring season, Coach Odums’ Jaguars routed archrival Grambling University 49-7 in the nationally televised Bayou Classic in Shreveport, La., on April 17.

Now NSU is hoping Coach Odums can transfer some of that momentum to Dick Price Stadium on the Norfolk campus.

The Spartans will open their fall season Sept. 4 against the University of Toledo Rockets in Ohio.