Penn St. names Mike Rhoades new coach

Field Level Media
30 Mar 2023, 07:19 GMT+10

Penn State hired VCU coach Mike Rhoades as its next basketball coach on Wednesday.

Utah State coach Ryan Odom already is in negotiations to take the VCU post, Stadium and ESPN reported Wednesday.

Rhoades, 50, heads to Penn State to replace Micah Shrewsberry, who formally will be introduced as Notre Dame's new coach Thursday.

Rhoades will be formally introduced as the Nittany Lions' coach in a press conference, also on Thursday.

"We are excited to welcome Mike Rhoades as our head men's basketball coach," said Dr. Patrick Kraft, Penn State vice president for intercollegiate athletics. "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 stated how he envisions his team playing next season.

"We will be bold, different and aggressive moving our program forward," he said. "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."

Rhoades went 129-61 in six seasons at VCU. He led the Rams to three NCAA Tournament appearances, including this season. VCU lost in the first round to Saint Mary's.

Rhoades also went 47-52 in three seasons at Rice from 2014-17.

Odom, 48, was the head coach of the 16th-seeded UMBC team that scored the first upset of a top seed in an NCAA Tournament when it beat Virginia in 2018. He moved on to Utah State in 2021 and led the Aggies to a tournament berth this month. No. 7 Missouri topped No. 10 Utah State in the first round, 76-65.

Odom began his career at Charlotte (2014-15), then coached UMBC (2016-2021) and the Aggies. He has a career 149-94 record overall, 44-25 at Utah State.

--Field Level Media