Mike Rhoades States Case for Continuing as Penn State's Basketball Coach

Penn State men's basketball coach Mike Rhoades explained Wednesday why he believes he's still the right person for the job after a 94-62 loss to Ohio State. The Nittany Lions are having one of their worst Big Ten seasons in program history, carrying a 3-16 conference record into Sunday's regular-season finale at Rutgers.

Asked whether he thought the game could have been his last at the Bryce Jordan Center as Penn State's head coach, Rhoades responded quietly but firmly.

"My last game? No." Rhoades told Mark Brennan of Lions247 at his post-game press conference. "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."

Rhoades, who received an endorsement from Michigan State's Tom Izzo in December, is in the third season of a seven-year contract he signed in 2023. His guaranteed compensation this year is $3.6 million. According to the term sheet Penn State released when hiring Rhoades, the buyout to fire him is $9 million this season.

Penn State (12-18 overall) is in last place in the Big Ten and likely will be the 18th seed for the Big Ten basketball tournament. The Nittany Lions have not won consecutive conference games this season and went 0-8 in January. They have tied the program record for most Big Ten losses. The 2012-13 team went 2-16 during an 18-game conference schedule.

Asked whether he's still the right coach to lead the program, Rhoades said he is "because I care."

"I’m going to fight," Rhoades told reporters in State College. "There’s some things you have to deal with, and we’ll deal with them, try to keep building the program. It's a different landscape than it has ever been before, so you’ve got to just continue to respond in different ways to it and fight for your program and keep pushing."

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Mike Rhoades shares a moment with Kayden Mingo and Josh Reed. — 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

Rhoades has said before that he believes Penn State basketball is "on the right path." Earlier this season, Rhoades said that he and Athletic Director Pat Kraft have had "open conversations" about where the program is headed.

“We’re gonna go get guys that want to be here,” Rhoades said in January. “And that’s what's hard about taking over a program that doesn’t have great basketball tradition in a world where it’s complete chaos and no rules, and you could be an easy target. But you know what? I’m not going for that easy target.”

According to the Bart Torvik experience metric, Penn State's roster began the season as the 10th-most inexperienced in Division I basketball. Penn State recognized just one starting senior, Josh Reed, during its Senior Night ceremony and has eight freshmen.

The Nittany Lions brought in 10 new players after going 16-15 (6-14 Big Ten) with an experienced roster last year. Penn State returned less than 15 percent of its scoring and 11 percent of its rebounding from last season.

Penn State's top player, freshman point guard Kayden Mingo, did not play against Ohio State after getting injured in the team's 71-69 win over Iowa on Saturday. That is Penn State's only win this season against a team in the top 50 of the NCAA NET rankings. Penn State is 124th in the NCAA NET.

"The No. 1 thing is maturity," Rhoades said after Wednesday's loss to the Buckeyes. "The biggest thing I told the guys is, there’s adversity in the game. Some guys are better than other at it that, when you have personal adversity or team adversity, you have to respond to that adversity the right way. And we just haven’t done that enough, and it snowballed today against us.

"... When you feel sorry for yourself or you get frustrated, it makes the game harder. And you saw that today. It was disappointing, because I thought on Saturday [against Iowa] we were completely the opposite."

Watch Rhoades' full press conference after the loss to Ohio State, courtesy of Lions247.

Sign up to our free Penn State Nittany Lions newsletter and follow us on social media.