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Penn State hired VCU's Mike Rhoades on Wednesday as its men's basketball coach, bringing in the Pennsylvania native to take over a program coming off its first NCAA Tournament appearance in more than a decade.
The Penn State board of trustees approved a seven-year deal worth $25.9 million for Rhoades, who is from Mahanoy City in Eastern Pennsylvania.
"We are excited to welcome Mike Rhoades as our head men's basketball coach," Penn State athletic director Patrick Kraft said. "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."
He replaces Micah Shrewsberry, who was hired away by Notre Dame last week.
Shrewsberry, an Indiana native, was at Penn State for two seasons. The Nittany Lions went 23-14 this season, reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011 and won an NCAA game for the first time since 2001.
"It's with great honor and excitement to be Penn State's coach. I would like to thank (University president) Dr. (Neeli) 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."
Rhoades, 50, was 129-61 in six seasons at VCU, including three NCAA Tournament bids. He also spent three seasons at Rice, going 23-12 in the final year with the Owls before returning to VCU. He was also an assistant at VCU from 2009-14 under then-head coach Shaka Smart.
In 19 seasons as a collegiate head coach, Rhoades, a Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania native, has produced a 373-189 record, a winning percentage of .664, seven NCAA Tournament appearances and nine national postseason appearances.
According to published reports, former Penn State player Joe Crispin will be joining Rhoades' staff. Crispin had been head coach at Division III Rowan College.
Rhoades becomes the 15th men's basketball head coach in Penn State history. Rhoades will be formally introduced in a press conference today at 2:30 p.m., which will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network.
The Rams won both the Atlantic 10 regular-season and tournament championships this season, making their third NCAA Tournament appearance under Rhoades and finishing 27-8 overall. The Rams' 27 wins were the most under Rhoades and the most for VCU since the 2012-13 season.
In just his second season in 2018-19, Rhoades led the Rams back to the NCAA Tournament, as well as their first Atlantic 10 Conference outright regular-season championship.
VCU's 25 total wins, including 16 conference victories, tied program regular-season marks. For his efforts, he was named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year and was a finalist for the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year award. Rhoades led the Rams back to the NCAA Tournament in 2020-21 following a 19-7 campaign in which the Black and Gold reached the A-10 Championship Game.
Prior to his six years in the head chair at VCU, Rhoades engineered a stunning turnaround at Rice as head coach of the Owls from 2014-17. Rhoades led Rice to its first 20-win campaign since 2003-04 and the program's first postseason appearance since 2011-12. Rice's 23-12 mark in 2016-17 was an 11-win improvement over the 2015-16 season and the 23 wins were the second-most in Owls' history. Rhoades assumed the reins at Rice in 2014-15 and led the school to an immediate five-win improvement. The Owls were a combined 12-49 in the two seasons prior to his arrival.
As head coach at Division III Randolph-Macon in Ashland, Virginia for 10 seasons, Rhoades compiled a 197-76 record (.722 win percentage) and led RMC to four NCAA Tournament appearances, including trips to the Sweet 16 in 2002 and 2003. Rhoades' teams won six Old Dominion Athletic Conference championships and earned national No. 1 rankings in two seasons. He was named ODAC Coach of the Year in three-straight seasons from 2001-03.
Rhoades played collegiately under coaches Pat Flannery and Brad McAlester at Lebanon Valley College. He guided the Flying Dutchmen to the 1994 NCAA Division III national championship with a 66-59 overtime win over NYU. He was named the tournament's Co-Outstanding Player.
He graduated with a degree in history in 1995 and earned his masters from VCU's Center for Sport Leadership in 2002.
Rhoades and his wife, Jodie, have two sons, Logan and Chase, and one daughter, Porter.