'I Know We Can Get This Done at Penn State.' Mike Rhoades Reflects on Year 1 With the Nittany Lions

Rhoades went through peaks and valleys in his first season with the Nittany Lions. Here's how next year could be different.

Mar 14, 2024; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Mike Rhoades completed his first season with the Nittany Lions with a 16-17 record. / Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

Mike Rhoades called his first season at Penn State “very, very interesting,” though the Nittany Lions' basketball coach admitted all first years are unique when building a program. The Schuylkill County native returned to Pennsylvania, where he pulled together a roster with 10 newcomers, compiled a 16-17 record and won nine Big Ten games for the eighth time in Penn State history.

“What I'm most proud about is the guys' approach, putting this team together very quickly and continuing to get better and better. I commend the players for that. I commend our staff for that,” Rhoades said. “You gotta go through stuff to get somewhere, and I thought we got somewhere because the guys stuck together going through ups and downs of the year.”

But there’s work to do now. Four players — Bragi Gudmundsson, Favour Aire, Jameel Brown and Demetrius Lilley — have entered the transfer portal, and Rhoades already dismissed then-leading scorer Kanye Clary (headed to Mississippi State) in February. Three others — Qudus Wahab, Leo O’Boyle and Rayquawndis Mitchell — are out of eligibility.

Puff Johnson made a key decision for the Lions, announcing that he will return next season, which leaves one more major puzzle piece. Ace Baldwin Jr., the Big Ten defensive player of the year, has one more season of eligibility that he can use with Penn State or elsewhere. But Rhoades also has long-term decisions to make about building the program for the future.

“That's the most important thing, is the relationships we have in our program with our players, and our staff, etc,” he said. “It's always ongoing, without a doubt.”

Attacking the Portal

With three freshmen signed to join the team next year, Penn State will have four scholarships open for use in the portal as of now. Rhoades was on his A-game in explaining how his approach will be different in his second offseason with significant change. He had to cast a wide net a year ago but now is able to fish with “his best fly.” He also said recruiting is similar to investigative reporting in the way his staff has to scour for talent that fits their plans.

“We're going to try to get specific needs, and because of the experience we've had really the last two years with this, we could maybe pinpoint some things to our needs a little bit better, a little bit more,” Rhoades said.

Sure, Rhoades would prefer to see college basketball revert to its old ways of coaching a guy from freshman to senior year and watching him develop throughout. But that’s just not what happens these days.

Penn State is looking for a “balance of skill and ability,” and Rhoades understands that the team has specific positions to fill because of departing personnel. The Lions likely will look specifically at frontcourt players, due to Wahab and Lilley’s absences, and toward adding another ball-handler.

“I've been doing this long enough. I can tell if guys are good fits for me," Rhoades said. "You're not going to be 100 [percent], but you want to get close. To me, the shooting part of it is watching them in live action. Can they get it off quick? Do they shoot the same shot every time, even if they miss? Do they have great shot discipline and shot prep? Then it's like that for everything.”

State of Penn State's NIL

It’s no secret that NIL money heavily influences recruiting and the transfer portal. Rhoades said that he doesn’t think any coach will ever be satisfied with the NIL his program has but did make one thing clear: “I'm not going to let the NIL run our program. No way.”

Penn State’s NIL collective, Happy Valley United, brought in longtime Bucknell head coach Pat Flannery to run a basketball-specific arm of the efforts. Rhoades said he appreciates the efforts that have been made to create a long-term, sustainable model with NIL and added some of the support Penn State is receiving is different than in the past. He thinks they’re doing it the right way.

“It is important. I think it's awesome how we can support our student-athletes, and I've seen first-hand how it's helped kids and their families. I am all for it. I love it,” Rhoades said. “But if that's the No. 1 reason you want to come and play basketball at Penn State, it's not gonna work. You gotta want to come here and be the best player and the best version of you because we're gonna get after it. 

“In that arena of NIL, we're going to be competitive. But there's gonna be a lot of awesome reasons besides that and next to that to come be a part of our program.”

What Rhoades Learned in Year 1

Rhoades has watched Big Ten basketball throughout his career. He admitted that being on the sidelines while coaching is a lot different than what he expected. As other Big Ten coaches alluded to through the year, Penn State’s style of play — especially its full-court press — was effective. Now, Rhoades is prioritizing adding “Big Ten size” and depth.

“With the experiences in my first year in Big Ten play have — I'm not gonna say reshaped my thinking — but has changed some of it, and our staff everyday is discussing it,” he said.

Rhoades also took a moment to reflect on this year, one in which he lived apart from his family to coach a team through a roller-coaster season filled with plenty of emotions. He offered a long response that is worth the read.

Well, I knew this for a long time, but I know how much I love my family. Because that was really hard this year. I can't wait till they get up here really soon. That was really hard.

After a loss, you go home, nobody's there. I remember we beat Wisconsin, and I go home and I'm eating two slices of pizza by myself at 12:30 at night. Usually Jodie and I are sitting down and watching the game, eating a pizza or whatever it may be. Celebrating wins and being mad if it's a loss. 

There were a lot of [lonely nights]. They were lonely without a doubt. But I have a great staff, and I met some great people in State College. That has helped a lot. 

Your first year, you're so dug into your job. What I learned about myself is I know we can get this done at Penn State. I know it's gonna be really hard, but I know I have some great support. I know there's some things that are different right now when people are dealing with Penn State basketball than before. I think I have people really looking to help me push the envelope to move this program forward. I feel that, and I'm excited about that. I'm not going to stop that. You're gonna have to kill me before you stop me from trying to move this program forward…

First-year programs, I've done it before, it's really, really hard. But I was super proud of our staff for continuing to work with our guys and finding different ways to connect with them and move them forward. We have some momentum in the Big Ten with our style of play and our approach, and people were excited about that. Let's continue to build on that in this offseason by how hard we work. 

So yeah, I am who I am. I'm still the kid from Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. I'm not afraid to compete, and that's not changing. This year made me know that I'm in the right place, and we're gonna get this thing rolling.

Max Ralph is a Penn State senior studying Broadcast Journalism with minors in sports studies and Japanese. He previously covered Penn State football for two years with The Daily Collegian and has reported with the Associated Press and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Follow him on Twitter (X) @maxralph_ and Instagram @mralph_59.