Oderinde returns to USF after serving as director of athletic performance from 2014-16.
TAMPA (Sept. 17, 2020) – University of South Florida head women’s basketball coach Jose Fernandez announced on Thursday the hiring of Irele Oderinde as the program’s head strength and conditioning coach. In addition to working with women’s basketball, Oderinde will also work with the Bulls’ men’s golf program.
Oderinde returns to USF after spending the past two years (2018-19) as the head football strength and conditioning coach at Florida State under former Bulls head football coach Willie Taggart.
“I am excited to rejoin my Bulls family,” said Oderinde. “It is an honor to get to work with such great coaches like Jose Fernandez, Steve Bradley (head men’s gold coach), and Brandon Roberts (associate head strength and conditioning coach). It is truly a blessing to have the opportunity to develop and mold our student-athletes. My wife and I are happy to call Tampa home again.”
During his time with the Seminoles, Oderinde designed and implemented programming for the football program year-round, while also overseeing the daily operations of the football strength and conditioning department. That included managing the sports science department and four strength coaches.
Prior to Florida State, Oderinde spent the 2017 season as the football head strength and conditioning coach at Oregon, and from 2014-16, he served his first stint at USF as the director of athletic performance for the Bulls. In that role, he oversaw the strength and conditioning programs for all 19 USF sports and designed a year-round training program for the football team.
He joined the South Florida staff after one year as West Virginia’s coordinator of strength and conditioning, specializing in exercise selection and skill development for the Mountaineers’ linemen. From 2010-12, he was the assistant strength and conditioning coach at South Carolina, leading year-round training for the Gamecocks’ men’s basketball and tennis teams.
Oderinde began his career at Western Kentucky, serving as an assistant strength and conditioning coach from 2005-07. In that time, he developed and implemented programs for the men’s basketball team while assisting with football and softball. He then spent two years (2008-10) as the speed and skills development coach at Notre Dame.
Oderinde was a four-year letterman at Western Kentucky. From his nose tackle position, he helped lead the Hilltoppers to a 40-13 overall record, four straight NCAA Division I-AA playoff appearances for the first time in school history and the 2002 national championship. As a senior, he started 12 games and made 45 tackles, including 9.0 for loss with 1.0 sack.
Oderinde is certified by USA Weightlifting, the National Association of Speed and Explosion, and is Strength and Conditioning Certified by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. He earned his bachelor’s degree in recreation administration from Western Kentucky in 2003 and a master’s in sport management from Western Kentucky in 2007.
“I am so excited about the opportunity to bring Irele back to USF,” said Fernandez. “His experience, expertise, work ethic and ability to communicate and motivate our student-athletes in regards to strength training, speed, agility and injury prevention, is exceptional. My staff and our players welcome him back with open arms. We are very fortunate to have someone of his caliber work with our program.”
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USF notched its ninth consecutive 19-win season and was poised for its ninth straight postseason appearance in 2019-20 before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the end of the college basketball season. The Bulls celebrated two all-conference honorees in Elena Tsineke and Elisa Pinzan. Tsineke was named the American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year, in addition to The American All-Freshman Team and Third Team All-Conference; while Pinzan was named a Third Team All-Conference selection.
USF has made 15 postseason tournament appearances and had six NCAA Tournament berths in head coach Jose Fernandez’s 20 seasons. The all-time winningest coach in program history, Fernandez has guided USF to nine 20-win seasons, two WNIT final four appearances, the 2009 WNIT championship and won more than 350 games.
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