Determined Rhoades has big dreams for PSU hoops
Jun. 9—PECKVILLE
There's nothing flashy about Mike Rhoades.
Not his personal background. He grew up on the gritty streets of Mahanoy City. A Coal Region kid, and proud of it. It shapes him still.
Not his career as a basketball player. He played at Division-III Lebanon Valley College, where he scrapped and clawed his way to a national championship, two All-American recognitions and school records in assists and steals. He graduated as the program's all-time leading scorer, too.
Not even his coaching career would qualify, solid as it has been. Rhoades developed Randolph-Macon into a Division-III power, then went five games under .500 in three seasons at Rice before landing at Virginia Commonwealth, taking the Rams to the Big Dance three times.
So, it's no wonder he speaks without delusions of grandeur, with a realism about his new job that should generate a welcomed feeling within a fan base that longs as much for stability in its basketball program as it does for championships.
"To be the head coach at Penn State, I never thought of that," Rhoades said Thursday, in his first area appearance before speaking at the annual Greater Scranton Penn State Chapter dinner at Fiorelli's. "It's beyond my wildest dreams."
This is meant as no offense to Micah Shrewsberry, the former Nittany Lions head coach who took a lucrative offer to take over for the legendary Mike Brey at Notre Dame. Turning Penn State's middling program into a somewhat yearly tournament contender the last few seasons certainly doesn't rate as easy work, and there should be personal, financial and professional rewards for doing it. Can't blame him for taking advantage of them.
But Rhoades is really what this program needs.
Someone who wants to be there.
Someone who knows how to build a team.
Someone who knows there are players now who are just like he was, kids who never thought of opportunities at Penn State in the past.
One of them is former Scranton Prep standout Leo O'Boyle, the forward/center who transferred to the Nittany Lions after four strong seasons in the Patriot League at Lafayette.
"Number one, I was recruiting him at VCU. Just knowing Leo coming out of high school, knowing everybody up here, number one we knew he was mature. He comes from a great family. He's about the right stuff. He's going to help us lay down the foundation of our program.
"I want him to come here with the toughness he has and the way he shoots the basketball, I want that from him, too. And we're going get that out of him. I told him, just come here, let your hair down, and go. I expect a lot from him. He knows how to win, and that's what I want from him."
O'Boyle is exactly the type of player that made perfect sense for Penn State once he hit the transfer portal, and not just because Rhoades needed to add 10 players to a roster decimated by graduations, transfers and a recruiting class that followed Shrewsberry to South Bend. Rhoades grew up just outside of Hazleton, and the basketball culture in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre is something he knows well.
As a high school student and basketball-crazed fan, he watched his share of PIAA playoff games from those wooden bleachers at the historic Catholic Youth Center, now the Lackawanna College Student Union. He played summer-league and AAU games here. One of his assistants at Penn State, Jimmy Martelli, played two seasons at the University of Scranton. Rhoades knows Carl Danzig through his college coach, Pat Flannery, who gave the Royals' head coach one of his first big assistant jobs at Bucknell. He even played against the Royals in college, just missing a half-court buzzer beater in a loss.
"I'll say I've been at a few St. Patrick's Day parade parties, too," Rhoades laughed. "And they've been fun."
It stands to reason that Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and the rest of coal country will be firmly on Rhoades' radar as he continues to build Penn State's program in his own image.
There might not be a player from the area joining the program every year, of course. But the point is, Rhoades isn't going to miss one.
And, he can't. Not now.
Maybe not for a while, if Penn State wants to get back to where it has been in recent years, and do so quickly.
"The last two months have just been a whirlwind," he said. "You make a decision, and you jump head-first into the deep end. You figure it out. And, that's what we're doing. ... It's all highs and lows when you take a new job. It's a crazy journey."
Contact the writer:
570-348-9125;
@DonnieCollinsTT;
@PennStateTT
