Stafford-Odom played college basketball for the California Golden Bears from 1988 to 1992.[2] She appeared in 14 games her freshman year in 1988–89 and averaged 11.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.3 steals per game.[2] She played in 29 games during the 1989–90 season, averaging 7.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.0 steals.[2] The 1989–90 Golden Bears finished with a 17–12 record, and advanced to the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament for the first time in school history.[8][9] Stafford-Odom played in 28 games during her junior year in 1990–91, averaging 17.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.3 steals, earning first-team All-Pac-10 Conference honors.[2][9][10] She appeared in 19 games her senior year in 1991–92, averaging 22.3 points per game, 8.7 rebounds, 1.0 assists, and 1.8 steals per game, garnering Kodak honorable mention All-American, Basketball Times honorable mention All-American, Women's Basketball News Service second-team All-American, and first-team All-Pac-10 recognition.[2][9][10] Her 22.3 points per game also led the Pac-10 that season.[9] The 1991–92 Golden Bears had a 20–9 record and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the second time in school history.[11][9] She graduated with a degree in mass communications in 1992.[7] Stafford-Odom was named on the Golden Bears' 10-player All-Decade Team for 1986 to 1996.[9] She was inducted into the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013.[12]
Professional career
Stafford-Odom played in 37 games, starting 18, for the San Jose Lasers of the American Basketball League (ABL) during the 1996–97 season, averaging 11.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.9 steals.[13] She also averaged 5.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.5 steals in two postseason games.[13] She appeared in 43 games, no starts, for the Long Beach Stingrays of the ABL in 1997–98, averaging 6.1 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.0 assists.[13] Stafford-Odom also played in 10 postseason games that season and averaged 5.4 points per game.[13] She was signed by the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) on May 25, 1999.[1] She was waived on June 2, 1999, before the start of the season.[1]
Stafford-Odom signed with the WNBA's Charlotte Sting on May 20, 2000, but was later waived.[1] She signed with the Houston Comets of the WNBA on April 30, 2001.[1] She played in 30 games, starting four, for the Comets in 2001, averaging 3.8 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.[1] Stafford-Odom also appeared in two postseason games, averaging 2.0 points, 1.5 rebounds, 1.0 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game.[1] She was waived on May 24, 2002.[14] Stafford-Odom was signed by the Miami Sol of the WNBA on June 18, 2002.[1] She played in six games for the Sol in 2002, averaging 1.3 points and 1.0 rebounds per game.[1] Stafford-Odom also played professionally overseas, with stops in Italy, Spain, Israel, Brazil and Puerto Rico.[9]
National team career
Stafford-Odom was a member of the U.S. junior national team in 1990.[9] She also played at the 1990 U.S. Olympic Festival.[9] She was later a member of the U S. national team at the 1991 R. William Jones Cup, appearing in all seven of the team's games while averaging 8.7 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.[5] The U.S. national team, which was composed of Pac-10 all-stars, finished with a 5–2 record at the R. William Jones Cup, earning a bronze medal.[5] Stafford also won bronze at the 1993 Summer Universiade, where she was compared to Charles Barkley for her play as a "scorer, rebounder and part-time enforcer".[9][15]
Coaching career
Stafford-Odom was the head coach at her alma mater Westchester High School for three seasons from 2002 to 2005, helping more than 10 players earn college scholarships.[9][16] She joined the UCLA Bruins coaching staff in July 2005.[6] She was an assistant coach for the Bruins from 2005 to 2008 and also served as the team's recruiting coordinator from 2007 to 2008.[9][16] Stafford-Odom was then an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Duke Blue Devils from 2009 to 2011.[16][7][9] In November 2009, Duke's 2010 recruiting class was rated No. 1 in the country by ESPN HoopGurlz.[17][18] The 2010 class included Haley Peters, Chelsea Gray, Tricia Liston, Richa Jackson, and Chloe Wells.[17][18] Stafford-Odom was then an assistant coach for the North Carolina Tar Heels from 2011 to 2013.[16][7][19] She also assisted with recruiting at North Carolina, and the team's 2013 recruiting class was ranked No. 1 in the nation by the All Star Girls Report in November 2012.[20][21] The 2013 class included Diamond DeShields, Allisha Gray, Stephanie Mavunga and Jessica Washington.[21]
Stafford-Odom was named the head coach of the Division I North Carolina Central Eagles in May 2017.[25][7] In 2018–19, she led the Eagles to their first Division I postseason win in team history, defeating the Delaware State Hornets in the first round of the 2019 MEAC tournament.[7] She led the team to a Division I school record 13 wins in 2019–20. They also finished fifth in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) with a 9–7 conference record, earning a bye in the first round of the 2020 MEAC tournament.[26] They then defeated the North Carolina A&T Aggies in the quarterfinals, advancing to the MEAC semifinals for the first time in program history.[26][7] However, the semifinal game was never played as the rest of the tournament was later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[27] Overall, Stafford-Odom served as the Eagles head coach from 2017 to 2023, accumulating an overall record of 55–108.[28] She was released in September 2023.[29]
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
Conference regular season champion
Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
Division regular season champion
Division regular season and conference tournament champion
Conference tournament champion
