Penn State men’s basketball has hired Mike Rhoades as its next head coach a week following the departure of Micah Shrewsberry to Notre Dame, the program announced on Wednesday. Rhoades had been in Penn State’s crosshairs for the majority of the week-long search process.
The Penn State Board of Trustees Subcommittee on Compensation met on Wednesday afternoon to approve Rhoades’ contract, which according to released terms will start at $3.4 million in total annual compensation and span seven years.
“We are excited to welcome Mike Rhoades as our head men’s basketball coach,” said Penn State Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Pat Kraft in a press release. “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. We are thrilled to welcome Mike, Jodie, Logan, Chase and Porter to Happy Valley!”
He is the 15th head coach in Penn State men’s basketball history and the program’s fourth in five years, following Shrewsberry, interim head coach Jim Ferry and former longtime head coach Pat Chambers.
Rhoades heads to Penn State following six seasons at VCU. The Rams are coming off 27-8 record and first round NCAA Tournament appearance after winning the A-10 Conference. While at VCU, Rhoades made the NCAA Tournament three times and the NIT once, never advancing past the first round in the national tournament while making it to the second round of the NIT in 2021-22.
“It’s with great honor and excitement to be Penn State’s Peter and Ann Tombros Endowed Men’s Basketball Head Coach. 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,” said Rhoades. “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.”
After leading Division III program Randolph-Mason for 10 years, Rhoades was associate head coach under Shaka Smart at VCU from 2009-2014. He left to become head coach at Rice for three years before returning to lead VCU in 2017.
A native of Mahanoy City in eastern Pennsylvania’s Coal Region, Rhoades played at Lebanon Valley College under head coach Pat Flannery, who went on to become Bucknell’s longtime head coach from 1994-2008.
Rhoades will have his hands full in the immediate future, if not also the long term, the Nittany Lions currently boast just four scholarship players on their roster following a handful of portal entries, graduations and the NBA Draft decision by senior forward Seth Lundy. Penn State has also seen two of its three 2023 incoming freshman ask for a release from their National Letters of Intent. The third is Braeden Shrewsberry, son of Micah, who seems likely to do the same.
Penn State will introduce Rhoades at a press conference at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday. It will air live on the Big Ten Network.
This story will be updated.
