Mike Rhoades heading back home for Penn State head coaching job

Pennsylvania-native Mike Rhoades has been announced as the new head coach at Penn State. Rhoades is coming off his third NCAA Tournament appearance in six years at VCU, and before that spent three years as the head coach at Rice.

“We are excited to welcome Mike Rhoades as our head men’s basketball coach,” said AD Dr. Patrick Kraft. “He is a veteran head coach who is a proven winner at multiple levels. Mike has been a tremendous recruiter and talent developer throughout his career. As a Pennsylvania native with a strong family history with our University, Mike understands what it means to be a Penn Stater and how impactful it is to be part of Nittany Nation. Mike has a vision of how to build Penn State Basketball into a championship program.”

Rhoades is 373-189 overall as a head coach, which includes a 129-61 record at VCU and 197 wins from his time at D-III Randolph-Macon in Virginia, where he won three ODAC titles and twice reached the D-III NCAA Sweet Sixteen.

Originally from Mahanoy City, Rhoades was a two-time D-III All-American at Lebanon Valley College in Annville.

“It’s with great honor and excitement to be Penn State’s Peter and Ann Tombros Endowed Men’s Basketball Head Coach,” said Rhoades. “I would like to thank Dr. Bendapudi, Pat Kraft and Michael Wade Smith for their faith in me and the opportunity to lead this great program. We will be bold, different and aggressive moving our program forward. We will play with great energy and excitement while always being relentless in our pursuit of making this basketball family into something special. I can’t wait to get to work.”

The Nittany Lions had one of their best seasons in recent history this year, reaching the Big Ten Tournament final and earning a victory in the NCAA Tournament under the leadership of former head coach Micah Shrewsberry. Notre Dame pulled Shrewsberry away to his home state just last week.

credit to Penn State Athletics for the image