Joe Crispin, a Penn State Star, Joins Mike Rhoades' Staff

Rhoades adds a Nittany Lions legend to the basketball staff he's bringing from VCU.

Mike Rhoades is bringing most of his basketball staff from VCU to Penn State, with one notable new hire. Former Penn State star Joe Crispin returned to the Bryce Jordan Center on Thursday, this time as assistant to the head coach.

"No doubt about it, his pride in Penn State is something else," Rhoades said.

Crispin, a four-year starter and former Penn State captain, will join Rhoades' staff, one with a distinctly VCU flavor. Rhoades is bringing four of his VCU assistants, including Phil Martelli's son Jimmy, while adding Crispin.

The head coach at Division III Rowan for the past seven years, Crispin returns to Penn State with a healthy basketball resume. After leaving Penn State as its career leader in minutes, Crispin embarked on a 14-year professional career that included 21 NBA games and stints in Ukraine, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Poland and Greece. He even played for the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs, a USBL team once coached by Darryl Dawkins.

In seven years at Rowan, Crispin led the Profs to two NJAC titles and three Division III tournaments. He compiled a career record of 114-54, going 24-6 this past season.

And he nodded along Thursday as Rhoades described how much they have in common and how much Crispin loves Penn State.

"He and I talk basketball, and we see the game similarly in how we want to do things," Rhoades said. "Him bleeding on this court and sweating on this court adds to it. If he can give that to the guys we’re going to have in this program and share that, that’s a home run."

Who else is on Rhoades' staff so far? Here's a look.

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Jamal Brunt, associate head coach: Rhoades' associate head coach at VCU for two seasons, Brunt has spent a lot of time in Virginia. He played for Rhoades at Randolph-Macon and worked at Richmond for 10 years. But Brunt also coached at Miami, where he worked with new Temple head coach (and former Penn State assistant) Adam Fisher.

Brent Scott, assistant coach: Another Rhoades veteran, Scott spent six years with him at VCU and one at Rice. In fact, Scott did two coaching tours at Rice, where he played, and also has worked at TCU and LSU. Scott played 14 years professionally, some of them in Spain, Greece and Italy.

J.D. Byers, assistant head coach: He has charted a similar geographic path to Rhoades. Byers played at Lebanon Valley College, Rhoades' alma mater, and worked at Randolph-Macon. Byers has worked with Rhoades for nine seasons, including the last six at VCU.

Jimmy Martelli, chief of staff: As VCU's director of operations since 2017, Martelli also is quite familiar with Rhoades. He spent one season on Rhoades' staff at Randolph-Macon and also has worked at Dickinson, his alma mater, Robert Morris and Rutgers.

Martelli is a Pennsylvania guy who played two seasons at the University of Scranton. And yes, his father is Phil Martelli. Asked about recruiting Philadelphia, Rhoades joked, "Hire a Martelli."

Discussing Crispin, Rhoades made a larger point about his coaching staff.

"He has the same mentality as our staff," Rhoades said. "You’re going to have to outwork everybody, you’re going to have an edge in recruiting and you're going to have and edge when we come out to play anybody. [Crispin] has that. We all have that. It's who we are. And to get another guy on our staff who has that and knos this place and loves this place, that's a big deal for me."

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