Penn State Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Patrick Kraft announced Wednesday the hiring of VCU head coach Mike Rhoades as the Peter and Ann Tombros Endowed Men’s Basketball Head Coach.

In 19 seasons as a collegiate head coach, Rhoades, a Mahanoy City native, has produced a 373-189 record, a winning percentage of .664, seven NCAA Tournament appearances and nine national postseason appearances.

Rhoades, whose contract was approved by the Board of Trustees Wednesday, becomes the 15th men’s basketball head coach in Penn State history. Rhoades will be formally introduced in a press conference on Thursday at 2:30 p.m., which will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network.

“We are excited to welcome Mike Rhoades as our head men’s basketball coach,” said Kraft. “He is a veteran head coach who is a proven winner at multiple levels. Mike has been a tremendous recruiter and talent developer throughout his career. As a Pennsylvania native with a strong family history with our University, Mike understands what it means to be a Penn Stater and how impactful it is to be part of Nittany Nation. Mike has a vision of how to build Penn State Basketball into a championship program. We are thrilled to welcome Mike, Jodie, Logan, Chase and Porter to Happy Valley!”

“It’s with great honor and excitement to be Penn State’s Peter and Ann Tombros Endowed Men’s Basketball Head Coach. I would like to thank Dr. Bendapudi, Pat Kraft and Michael Wade Smith for their faith in me and the opportunity to lead this great program,” said Rhoades. “We will be bold, different and aggressive moving our program forward. We will play with great energy and excitement while always being relentless in our pursuit of making this basketball family into something special. I can’t wait to get to work.”

Rhoades comes to Penn State following a six-year stint as the head coach at VCU in which he guided the Rams to three NCAA Tournament appearances, a 129-60 overall record and 72-32 Atlantic 10 Conference record. He is the fourth-winningest coach in VCU history. Rhoades developed a pair of Atlantic 10 Players of the Year and 13 all-conference selections throughout his six years in Richmond. On the recruiting trail, Rhoades has signed the Atlantic 10’s top-ranked recruiting class in three of the past four years.

The Rams won both the Atlantic 10 regular-season and tournament championships during the 2022-23 season, making their third NCAA Tournament appearance under Rhoades and finishing 27-8 overall.