STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — After days of speculation, it appears that Penn State is ready to announce that Pennsylvania native and former Virginia Commonwealth coach Mike Rhoades is returning home to take over the Nittany Lions' men's basketball program.
The news was made official at a meeting of the university's Board of Trustees at 4 p.m. Wednesday, according to The Athletic's Matt Fortuna, who says Rhoads and the Lions agreed to a seven-year contract paying him roughly $3 million per year.
Rhoades succeeds Micah Shrewsberry, who left Happy Valley for the head coaching job at Notre Dame after leading Penn State to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011 and its first tournament victory since 2001, when the Lions made the Sweet 16 round with an upset of national powerhouse North Carolina.
Penn State went 37-31 in two seasons under Shrewsberry. The Lions reached the championship game of the Big Ten tournament this year, falling to Purdue, before defeating Texas A&M 76-59 in the first round of the Big Dance.
Their season -- and Shrewsberry's tenure -- ended with a 71-66 loss to Texas in the second round.
Virginia Commonwealth has made as many NCAA Tournament appearances in six seasons under Rhoades than Penn State has made in the last two decades. The Rams went 129-61 and reached the tournament three times during his tenure.
Rhoades was a high school standout at Mahanoy Area in Schuylkill County and a breakout star at Lebanon Valley College, where he led the Flying Dutchmen to a NCAA Division III title in 1994 and graduated as the school's all-time leading scorer.
Following his playing career, Rhoades broke into coach in 1996, when he joined the staff at Randolph-Macon as an assistant. Following the retirement of Hal Nunnally in 1999, Rhoades took over the head coaching job at age 25.
In his 10 seasons at the Division III school, Rhoades compiled a record of 197–76 and reached the NCAA Division III tourney four times.
Rhoades joined VCU as an associate head coach in 2009 and helped guide the Rams to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances. He left the program to take the head coaching job at Rice in 2014, turning around a struggling program that had managed just 12 wins in the two previous seasons.
In his third year at Rice, Rhoades led his team to a 23-12 record -- the second-highest win total in program history.
He then returned to VCU in 2017 following the departure of Will Wade. His 129 wins rank third all-time among VCU coaches.