ALTOONA, Pa. -- Penn State has locked in on a basketball coach and has made a substantial offer, according to a report Tuesday night.
VCU coach Mike Rhoades reportedly has been offered more than $3 million a year by Penn State, which has moved quickly after Micah Shrewsberry departed for Notre Dame.
Sources: Penn State has offered its head coaching vacancy to VCU's Mike Rhoades, with an annual salary in excess of $3 million dollars.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 28, 2023
If Rothstein's report is true, Rhoades could become by far the highest-paid Penn State basketball coach ever. Shrewsberry was believed to be making $2 million a year -- the school doesn't release specific figures -- and it was only about six years ago that Penn State even topped $1 million a year to previous coach Patrick Chambers.
Now, about the wording above. Rothstein's report only says that Penn State offered Rhoades the job, but does not mention that he has accepted it.
What does this mean? Well, maybe nothing eventually, if Rhoades does indeed accept the offer.
But as of 8:15 p.m. Tuesday, there had been no word of Rhoades accepting the offer to become the next coach. He's believed to be making about $2 million a year at VCU, so it's certainly possibly that he could go back to that school and seek more money.
What would Penn State be getting in Rhoades, if he indeed is the next coach?
As we reported over the weekend, Rhoades is a native of Mahanoy City, Pa., and played in college at Lebanon Valley in Annville, leading the team to the 1994 Division III national title.
He just finished his sixth season as VCU's head coach. The Rams made the NCAA Tournament this season and lost in the first round, and they've made it three out of Rhoades' six years there. His record at the school is 129-60.
Rhoades previously served as head coach at Division III Randolph-Macon for 10 years and at Rice for three years.
It was reported earlier Tuesday that the Penn State's Board of Trustees subcommittee on compensation will meet Wednesday afternoon. That set off speculation that a coaching hire was imminent.
GIGER'S TAKE
This would be a good hire, in the sense that Rhoades is probably the best coach available for this particular job at this particular time.
He's a Pennsylvania native, so there's a good chance he would stay at Penn State for a long period, as opposed to using it as a stepping stone job the way Shrewsberry did.
Rhoades has run a good program at VCU and had success there, so he knows what it takes to play at a high level and reach the NCAA Tournament.
Are there better coaches out there than Rhoades? Yes. But Penn State needs to make a quick hire here to keep things afloat in the program, and Rhoades is the best and safest guy they could hire right now.
Might there be somebody better next year, or the year after that, especially for $3 million a year? Sure. But with little time to go through an extensive search, Penn State needs to get the best guy that it can right now.
Rhoades fits that bill and checks a lot of boxes for Penn State's needs.
