Mike Rhoades Outlines Penn State Basketball's Future After Lost Season

Rhoades addresses where the Nittany Lions must go after a 20-loss season.

Penn State Nittany Lions men's basketball coach Mike Rhoades gestures to his team against the Northwestern Wildcats during the first half at United Center. | David Banks-Imagn Images

The Penn State men's basketball team started three of their eight freshmen in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, which ended up being the team's final game. Northwestern pulled away in the second half for a 76-66 win, sending the Nittany Lions to another offseason of questions.

Afterward, Penn State coach Mike Rhoades seemed to sigh almost in relief that it was over, though the frustration was palpable in his weary voice.

"It was a really hard year for me," Rhoades told reporters at Chicago's United Center on Tuesday night. "It was really hard. The world we live in now, you want to give yourself a chance. You want to give your team a chance to be successful. So it's hard. The reality, is when you're really young in Power 4 basketball, you're at a disadvantage. So we need to address that."

Then Rhoades listed four traits that will be keys to Penn State's offseason.

"We need to get our young guys bigger, better, and badder and stronger," he said.

With the nation's 10th most-inexperienced roster, according to Bart Torvik, Penn State went 12-20, its first 20-loss season since 2013. The Nittany Lions also finished last in the Big Ten in scoring defense and record (3-17), the latter of which led to the former.

Penn State allowed 79.3 points per game, the program's highest average since World War II, according to the Big Ten Network. No Nittany Lion made the all-conference teams. Even Kayden Mingo, Penn State's top young player, did not make the all-Big Ten freshman team.

Mingo discussed his Year 2 plans following Tuesday's loss, though Rhoades must find a way to retain him first. Rhoades also has to be retained.

The coach has four years remaining on his 2023 contract that guarantees him $25.9 million over seven years. His buyout, according to the term sheet, is $9 million during the 2025-26 season. It drops to $6 million during the 2026-27 season.

"My last game? No." Rhoades said after Penn State's home loss to Ohio State on March 4. "I've got four years left on my contract, so, do you think it’s going to be my last game? I’m going to coach my butt off, go as hard as I can. Wake up tomorrow, work hard, work harder than I ever have and just keep going and keep coaching."

What's next for Mike Rhoades, Penn State?

Penn State men's basketball head coach Mike Rhoades talks to the Nittany Lions players during a timeout against Rutgers. | Taj Falconer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Rhoades laid out his vision for Penn State's future following the loss to Northwestern. Mainly, Rhoades said he wants Penn State to get older. That means retaining the core of contributing younger players (Mingo, Ivan Juric, Dominick Stewart, Melih Tunca, Mason Blackwood) while bringing in veterans.

"You've got to be old," Rhoades said in Chicago. "You've got to be old, because everybody else is. The best teams in our league and the best teams in the country are old and experienced. We've got to address some of that.

"I always re-evaluate everything I do and what we do in the program, and I'll do that again. I know that works. It's been a tough stretch. This is a hard job, but it's pretty awesome too, the Big Ten and trying to figure it out at the place where I am."

Rhoades also must deploy his limited NIL resources, in comparision with other Big Ten teams, to retain and attract talent. As Rhoades said before the Big Ten Tournament, recruiting is about more than fit. It's also about relationships and "what you can afford."

"That's the key nowadays: Will they stay together? Can you keep them together?" Rhoades asked. "With the things that go on outside these doors, with the poaching and all this crazy stuff... I'll go back to it. It's real relationships, real relationships that have a lot of love and trust. You sweat together. I'm going to lean on that stuff all the time."

Rhoades then acknowledged the reality of being a part of a basketball team without real history that's part of a football school putting $700 million into Beaver Stadium.

"But you've got to play the game of the landscape of college basketball," Rhoades said. "So we'll do everything we can to bring the guys back that want to be here for all the right reasons and do it
and build on it and get them some really good players around them and do this right.

"Since I've been here, we've had some really good wins. We just don't have enough. That's got to be the goal, and it starts with the guys that are in that locker room for all the right reasons. I love them. For everything we went through, we had a really good group of guys. They were coachable. They
were about the right stuff. ... Even when we got off to a tough start in the Big Ten with the schedule we had, we didn't have crybabies or complainers. Guys went to work and stacked days, and I really respect that and appreciate that. We've got to use that to catapult and move forward."

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Mike Rhoades shares a moment with guard Kayden Mingo (4) and forward Josh Reed (10) following the game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Bryce Jordan Center. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

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