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UNIVERSITY PARK -- Thursday was Opening Day in baseball, which is a day of optimism for its fans.
It's fitting that Penn State also chose Thursday afternoon to introduce new basketball coach Mike Rhoades.
After his press conference, there should be a lot of optimism among PSU hoops fans, as was evident by the Legion of Blue student section that was on hand at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Rhoades, a Pennsylvania native from Mahanoy City, knocked one out of the park in his first public appearance as Penn State's head man after arriving from Virginia Commonwealth this week.
Rhoades may not be a universally known name around college basketball like Big Ten foes Tom Izzo of Michigan State or Matt Painter of Purdue, but PSU athletic director Patrick Kraft put it as simply as fans want to hear.
"He's a winner. Period," Kraft said. "He knows how to win. He understands what it takes to win at every level."
Kraft is not lying.
Before getting into coaching, Rhoades won a Division III national championship as a player at Lebanon Valley College.
When he became a head coach for the first time at Randolph-Macon, he got his team to the Division III Sweet 16 two years in a row.
In between stops at Randolph-Macon and his next head coaching job at Rice, Rhoades served as an assistant coach under Shaka Smart at VCU.
He was there for VCU's Final Four run during the 2010-11 season.
Rhoades was hired at Rice for three seasons, and although he struggled his first two years, he guided the Owls to a 23-12 record in his third year and a trip to the CBI.
That's not exactly easy at a place like Rice, where the Owls' baseball program is a higher priority than basketball.
After Rice, he spent his last six seasons at VCU, where the Rams made the NCAA Tournament in three of those years. Rhoades' Rams went 27-8 this season and won the Atlantic 10 championship, but fell in the first round to five-seed Saint Mary's.
Although Rhoades admitted he and his family loved VCU, it was the interest in coming back home to Pennsylvania that was the ultimate factor.
He joked that season tickets will be up in Schuylkill County, and you better watch out if you park a Yuengling truck outside of the Jordan Center.
"I've known Penn State since I've been born," he said. "My dad used to drive us here for a lot of things. I saw games at Rec Hall. I worked basketball camps here. My sister went here, my brother went here. Who wouldn't want to be here? And I get to coach basketball here? I get to wake up tomorrow and be the head coach at Penn State every day. Why not? And why not now? That's what I'm excited about."
Rhoades is also bringing much of his staff at VCU to Happy Valley in associate head coach Jamal Brunt, J.D. Byers, Brent Scott and Jimmy Martelli.
Martelli is the son of former St. Joseph's head coach and current Michigan assistant Phil Martelli, who has deep Philadelphia ties.
Rhoades also brought in a Nittany Lion legend in Joe Crispin, who led the Lions to a Sweet 16 appearance in 2001.
Crispin served as head coach at Division III Rowan University in New Jersey for the last seven seasons, where he compiled a 114-54 record.
"His pride in Penn State is something else," Rhoades said. "He loves this place. Beyond that, Joe knows basketball. He was a pro. He's a successful college coach. We see the game similar in how we want to do things. He knows this place and loves this place. That's a big deal to me."
Kraft and Penn State gave Rhoades a seven-year, $25.9 million dollar deal, which is an indicator that Rhoades is here for the long haul.
It's also much more of a commitment than PSU athletics has ever made for a basketball coach.
"We wanted to find a coach that wanted to be at Penn State," Kraft said. "We wanted to find someone with the same confidence and the chip on the shoulder we all have."
Kraft may not have made a home run hire, but it's certainly a base hit. How big of a hit may not be known for a few years.
But some type of hit was needed after Micah Shrewsberry's departure, and Kraft delivered.
Andy Stine can be reached at astine@altoonamirror.com.