Mealii Odum enters her second season as an assistant coach at Utah State in 2025 after joining the staff in July of 2024.
During her first season on staff at Utah State in 2024, the team has perhaps its most successful season in program history in 2024, winning a program-record 18 games, repeating as conference tournament champions, and hosting an NCAA Tournament game for the first time ever. The Aggies made their first ever appearance in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 poll and climbed as high as No. 7 during a 12-0-2 start, tied with the 1960 men's basketball team for the highest-ever national ranking by any Utah State program in any sport. USU earned wins over three-straight Big 12 opponents, including reigning Big 12 champion Texas Tech and in-state foes Utah and No. 16 BYU. Utah State finished the season with just a single loss, going 18-1-5 overall and 7-1-3 in league play. In the conference tournament, the Aggies defeated Colorado State 2-0 in the semifinals then took down Boise State 2-1 to repeat as champions. They then earned a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament to earn the right to host Washington, where they fell in penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw.
The Aggies set program records for goals (62), assists (65), points (189) and shutouts (15) in a season, out-scoring opponents by a combined 62-14 on the year to rank fifth nationally in goal differential, sixth in the NCAA in scoring offense and 10th in goals-against average. Defender Kaitlyn Richins was named the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year and became the first All-American in program history as she earned third team recognition from Top Drawer Soccer. Goalkeeper Cora Brendle was named the Mountain West Newcomer of the Year and a program-record seven USU players were named to all-Mountain West teams, including five on the first team and two on the second team. Additionally, four Aggies earned spots on the league's all-newcomer team. A program-record five Utah State players also earned United Soccer Coaches All-Pacific Region accolades.
Odum returned to her alma mater as a coach after spending the past four years coaching in Memphis, Tennessee, both at the club level with Lobos Rush, and at the prep level with Bartlett High School. At Bartlett HS, Odum began as an assistant coach and was later promoted to head coach.
Odum (formerly Enos) enjoyed a strong playing career as a defender at Utah State, playing under head coach Heather Cairns from 2016-19. During her career, she played 76 games with 74 starts, logging over 6,800 minutes on the pitch. Odum was a three-time COSIDA Academic All-District honoree, and earned Academic All-Mountain West and MW Scholar-Athlete honors all four years of her career. In addition, she was one of two nominees by the Mountain West for the NCAA Woman of the Year award in 2020.
Graduating from Utah State with a perfect 4.0 GPA, Odum earned Scholar of the Year honors from the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services and was the colleges’ valedictorian. She earned undergraduate degrees in special education and communicative disorders.
