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For the Penn State Nittany Lions men's basketball team, nothing has looked good about this season. It all came to a head in their regular season finale against Big Ten rivals Ohio State, where they were drubbed 94-62. While concerns about the team's play arose, other noise surrounding third-year head coach Mike Rhoades emerged as well.
After all, with a 12-18 record with only three conference wins, Rhoades has not displayed an ability to get more out of his players. While it is still a young squad, fans expected more competitive fire. What they got was a fourth loss this season by a 30+ point margin. More embarrassingly for Rhoades, this all came after his first couple of seasons showed promise. He almost got the Nittany Lions to .500 in his first season on the job, and actually got them to a winning record in 2-24-25 at 16-15.
Still, hints of a team filled with inconsistency started to show. The 2024-25 season actually started out well with a 12-2 start before it cratered down the stretch. One can also point to an abysmal 7-31 mark over the last two years against power conference foes. For Mike Rhoades, there has been no answer to the struggles of this team. However, when asked about his job after last night's game, he seemed to have an air of confidence about him.
“Cause I care. I'm going to fight,” Rhoades said, according to the Daily Collegian. “There's some things you got to deal with. We'll deal with them. Try to keep building the program. It's a different landscape than it's ever been before, so you just got to continue to respond different ways to it and fight for your program and keep pushing.”
While those words are reassuring, they still come after another disappointing season under his watch.
On a related note, Penn State did make one big announcement on Thursday with a change in leadership with the women's basketball program. Carolyn Kieger is out after seven seasons at the helm of the Lady Lions, and athletics director Pat Kraft is now leading a search for a new women's basketball coach. Could he take on a search for the men's program at the same time?
Only time will tell for sure, but it could be a possibility Penn State will not want to be conducting two basketball coaching searches at the same time. And Rhoades is only coming out of his third year with the program compared to Kieger's seven seasons without an NCAA tournament appearance. Nevertheless, the pressure is on for Rhoades if he remains the head coach next season.
This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Mike Rhoades addresses uncertain future after Penn State's blowout loss
Continue reading...
After all, with a 12-18 record with only three conference wins, Rhoades has not displayed an ability to get more out of his players. While it is still a young squad, fans expected more competitive fire. What they got was a fourth loss this season by a 30+ point margin. More embarrassingly for Rhoades, this all came after his first couple of seasons showed promise. He almost got the Nittany Lions to .500 in his first season on the job, and actually got them to a winning record in 2-24-25 at 16-15.
Still, hints of a team filled with inconsistency started to show. The 2024-25 season actually started out well with a 12-2 start before it cratered down the stretch. One can also point to an abysmal 7-31 mark over the last two years against power conference foes. For Mike Rhoades, there has been no answer to the struggles of this team. However, when asked about his job after last night's game, he seemed to have an air of confidence about him.
“Cause I care. I'm going to fight,” Rhoades said, according to the Daily Collegian. “There's some things you got to deal with. We'll deal with them. Try to keep building the program. It's a different landscape than it's ever been before, so you just got to continue to respond different ways to it and fight for your program and keep pushing.”
While those words are reassuring, they still come after another disappointing season under his watch.
On a related note, Penn State did make one big announcement on Thursday with a change in leadership with the women's basketball program. Carolyn Kieger is out after seven seasons at the helm of the Lady Lions, and athletics director Pat Kraft is now leading a search for a new women's basketball coach. Could he take on a search for the men's program at the same time?
Only time will tell for sure, but it could be a possibility Penn State will not want to be conducting two basketball coaching searches at the same time. And Rhoades is only coming out of his third year with the program compared to Kieger's seven seasons without an NCAA tournament appearance. Nevertheless, the pressure is on for Rhoades if he remains the head coach next season.
This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Mike Rhoades addresses uncertain future after Penn State's blowout loss
Continue reading...
