NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – Norfolk State football head coach Dawson Odums has been fired after four seasons, the school announced Tuesday.

The Spartans have a 4-8 record this season, including a 2-3 record in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Four of the team’s losses this season have been by seven points or less. NSU never finished better than fourth in the six-team MEAC.

In Odums’ four years, NSU went 15-30, with his best season being his first, going 6-5 in 2021. It was NSU’s first winning season since 2007, and the six-game winning streak the team had was the program’s longest since 1984, though the Spartans finished that season by losing their final three games, two of them by two points, including a double-overtime loss to North Carolina Central.

The university’s director of athletics, Dr. Melody Webb, made the announcement to end Odums’ tenure as head coach, saying that he had been reassigned effective immediately.

“I want to thank Coach Odums for his continued commitment and dedication to Spartan football,” Webb said. “Since his arrival, he has become a valued member of our family and community, always representing Norfolk State with dignity and class. We wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”

The university said they have started conducting a national search for the program’s next head coach.

No additional comments were made regarding the change in leadership.

Odums was hired from Southern University, where he went 63-35 during his tenure there, including a 53-17 record in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, reaching the SWAC championship game four times, winning once in 2013.

In his four years as coach, Odums had a 15-31 record, while going XX-XX in the MEAC.