UTSA Athletics is a national leader in supporting first-generation student-athletes. Throughout the 2025-26 school year, GoUTSA.com will spotlight the department’s first-generation student-athletes, coaches, administrators and staff.
Tye Odom will be a senior on the UTSA Baseball team in 2026. He is a first-generation college student from Kingsville, Texas.
Q: Why is attending college and graduating important for you?
Tye Odom: “I’m a first-generation college student from a small town, Kingsville, Texas. The population is less than 20,000 people and I moved here to a big city in San Antonio to go to UTSA. My parents not having a degree and working hard their whole lives just allowed me to get the opportunity to come here.”
Q: How impactful is it to attend UTSA, where approximately 45 percent of students are first-generation, including more than one-third of student-athletes?
Tye Odom: “It makes me feel more comfortable and just easier in general. I would say that I have no choice of failing. I have to get my degree and make my parents proud.”
Q: How important is competing in athletics to first-generation college students?
Tye Odom: “Obviously the scholarship allows student-athletes to come to school and actually be able to afford it. I think it’s important to have coaches that push you to actually go to class and actually get up and have conversations with your professors and fellow students, as well.”
Q: What advice would you give to other first-generation college students?
Tye Odom: “Just stick with it. Get into college and stay on top of your grades. Having the degree makes you more successful in the real world.”