Penn State ended its search for a new head basketball coach on Wednesday by announcing the hiring of Mike Rhoades. Rhoades, a Pennsylvania native, comes to Penn State following a successful stint as the head coach of the VCU Rams, one of the top programs in the Atlantic-10. While VCU fans were hoping their school would find a way to keep Rhoades as its head coach, Rhoades ultimately decided to move on and take a chance with the Nittany Lions.
But knowing how important the VCU community was to him and his family, Rhoades released a final farewell message to VCU fans and the VCU community as he and his family began to plan their move to State College.
“My family and I want to thank you for 11 awesome years,” Rhoades said in his released statement, via Twitter, referring to his time spent at VCU as an assistant coach and as a head coach. “It was a dream come true to coach with so many special, talented and passionate players and coaches. My players and coaches will always be part of our family… no matter what!”
[autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag] is coming off a season in which he guided VCU to the regular season and conference tournament championship in the A-10, which was accompanied by a third NCAA trip with Rhoades as the head coach.
Now, as he takes over the Penn State program, Rhoades will look to build a staff and a roster as quickly as possible to begin preparing for the upcoming season. It would not be shocking to see some VCU flavor on Penn State’s roster next season if any players choose to follow Rhoades to State College, not to mention any assistant coaches.
— Mike Rhoades (@CoachRhoades) March 29, 2023
Follow Kevin McGuire on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.
Follow Nittany Lions Wire on Twitter and like us on Facebook for continuing Penn State coverage and discussion. Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.
[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=11]
[mm-video type=video id=01gwqdn54wjc7pkgy2e9 playlist_id=01ey902ehrs6e9bvhw player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gwqdn54wjc7pkgy2e9/01gwqdn54wjc7pkgy2e9-4e70442d4fe4cc7a53636ea762052e85.jpg]