On Sunday, Penn State met with the current VCU head coach Mike Rhoades about their open position. He’s been at VCU for six years boasting a 129-60 overall record and three NCAA Tournament appearances. This past season he led the Rams to an A-10 Conference regular season and postseason title.
Rhoades is a Pennsylvania native from Mahanoy City about two hours from State College. He has a very experienced background, coaching at the Division 3 level before becoming an assistant under Shaka Smart at VCU. He took over the head coaching position at Rice for three years before coming back to VCU in 2017.
It’s clear that jumping to the Big Ten would be a step up for Rhoades. The A-10 is a one-bid conference for the winners of the conference tournament. The Big Ten got eight teams into the NCAA Tournament this season.
Penn State is reportedly willing to pay around $4 million annually for their next head coach. This would be a major commitment of resources that the athletic department had not made in the past.
It’s expected that a contract around that range could get Rhoades to come to State College.
VCU’s Mike Rhoades meeting with Penn State today, source told @Stadium.
Rhoades has strong ties to the area. Played at Lebanon Valley.
Rhoades loves VCU, but A-10 was one-bid league and Big Ten got 8 teams in tourney.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 26, 2023
Rhoades would be a good hire for Penn State. He’s been a good coach at the mid-major level and proved that he can build a sustainable program. Getting to the tournament in a one-bid league is hard to do and he accomplished it three times in six seasons.
We’ll see if Rhoades decides to leave Virginia to come back home to Pennsylvania, but it’s certainly looking like Penn State has found its next head coach of the basketball program.
