On Mike Rhoades, Penn State and a Commitment to Basketball
STATE COLLEGE | To introduce Mike Rhoades, Penn State's new men's basketball coach, Athletic Director Patrick Kraft made a pointed statement of purpose that might also have applied to someone else.
"We wanted to find a coach who wanted to be at Penn State," Kraft said Thursday. "We wanted someone who had the same confidence and the chip on the shoulder that we all have as an organization. We wanted someone who knew how special Penn State was but also loved to compete. You've got to compete every day.
"We wanted someone who wasn't going to back down from anything. He was going to go fight and fight for Penn State every single day."
On the same day Notre Dame introduced Micah Shrewsberry as its new men's basketball coach, Penn State welcomed Rhoades with a press conference at the Bryce Jordan Center. Rhoades, a 19-year head coach who spent the past six at VCU, replaced Shrewsberry, who stayed two seasons in State College.
Facing his new staff, watched by several current and former players (some in the transfer portal) and cheered by Schuylkill County where he grew up, Rhoades made a first impression that sought to project longevity.
Rhoades broadly summarized conversations over the past week with Kraft and Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi hinging on that point. He pressed beyond being a home-state product — a "Pennsylvania boy with a Penn State heart," if you will — to explain why he plans to be in State College for more than two years.
"The conversation Pat and I had was as real as it can get," Rhoades said. "He said, 'What do you need to make this place great?' We have a plan and we're going to pursue that plan. ... When we were talking, we were talking about building a plan to last, not just to get hot."
Penn State signed Rhoades to a seven-year, $25.9 million contract, by far the largest in Penn State basketball history. What's more, Penn State released financial terms of the deal, which the athletic department had not done before.
The deal includes an average annual salary of $3.7 million, incentives for NCAA Tournament wins ($75,000 per victory) and NIT wins ($10,000 each) and a heavily front-loaded buyout to discourage early poachers.
Rhoades' first-year buyout is $15 million. It's $12 million in year 2 and $9 million in year 3, ultimately falling to $0 in his final season. Both Rhoades and Kraft said they wanted to send a message with both the contract and its public release.
"We're putting it all on the table so everybody knows what we're doing and the commitment," Rhoades said.
Added Kraft, "We felt that we would show you exactly what we're doing."
Rhoades brought with him from VCU the three keywords he uses to describe his coaching style: "bold, different and aggressive." He called himself a coach who walks the facilities at 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. looking for things to improve. He said things like, "We will have dirt on our hands and will be damn proud of it."
During the interview process, Rhoades told Bendapudi that he's a "pit bull with manners."
"He did," Bendapudi said, laughing.
Rhoades also appealed to the hometown crowd that has followed him since he played basketball at Mahanoy Area High and Lebanon Valley College. "If you put a Yuengling truck out there, look out," he said.
Rhoades proudly wore his Penn State fandom, saying that he and his wife Jodie sat on their porch last year watching the Penn State-Iowa wrestling match. Rhoades has a Penn State wrestling t-shirt. Now he has Penn State basketball t-shirts as well.
"I've known Penn State since I was born," he said. "My dad [the late Pennsylvania state senator James Rhoades] used to drive us up here for a lot of different things. I've seen games at Rec Hall. I've worked basketball camps here. My sister went here, my brother went here, my dad went to graduate school here.
"... I've always loved Penn State."
And Kraft asked Penn State to love Rhoades back.
"We loved him from the start," the athletic director said. "We wanted to run through a wall for him. He's a winner, hard stop."
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AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich. And consider subscribing (button's on the home page) for more great content across the SI.com network.
