Bob Ide says, It was a big night for the Greater Scranton chart of the Penn State Alumni Association as they welcomed in new Penn State Men’s Basketball Coach Mike Rhoades.

You are a Mahanoy City native and get to return to your home state. What has the whirlwind been like since you took over?

MIKE RHOADES says, “The best way to explain it is a whirlwind. It has been a lot of fun number one meeting everybody and the excitement around Penn State basketball not just in the commonwealth but all over the country. We have gotten a lot of great feedback and recruiting has gone well. Really excited to get our guys back on campus really soon to get started to put this team to work and put this team together.

Ide asks, What has been the biggest adjustment so far. There has been a lot going on with Penn State basketball since they made the NCAA tournament. Micah goes to Notre Dame and then you step in so how do you keep that excitement going for the Nittany Lions. ?

Rhoades added, “ Just go out and meet a lot of people. The best way to keep people interested in a program is giving them your time and your effort. Number one thing is recruiting and we had to get ten new players and build this team through the late team transfer portal. We have a full squad ready to go and to keep that excitement going is to put out a product that represents Penn State University the right way with a lot of effort and toughness but a lot of class as well.

Ide asks, You mentioned the transfer portal one of the players you have coming in is Scranton’s Leo O’Boyle. What do you expect out of the fish year Senior ?

Rhoades says, “ A lot, He is one of the older guys and we are going to expect a lot out of Leo. We started recruiting him when at VCU and when we got up here it just worked out and the timing worked out great. We had him on campus and he was excited about Penn State as I was and we want I’m to come in here to shoot that ball like he does at a high clip and bring that coal region toughness we need in our program. Just excited to see him take the next step as a player let’s have a great year and see what it can do when you are done with school this time next year. “

Ide asks, You had a lot of success at VCU you went to the NCAA tournament what type of team will we see the Nittany Lions ?

Rhoades says, “ Very aggressive team on both ends of the court. We don’t walk the ball up and we don’t sit back on defense and play on our heels. We will be really aggressive and that’s the way I love to coach that is the fun way to play and we are going to play hard be really aggressive and be a team. I think those have been the qualities of my teams for a long time and I believe that if you put your teammates first and great things happen for you as a player. We will continue to take that same approach all the time. “