Sources: Rhoades to PSU as VCU eyes Odom

VCU‘s Mike Rhoades has agreed to terms to become the next men’s basketball coach at Penn State, sources told ESPN.

Rhoades has called a meeting for 4 p.m. ET Wednesday to inform the VCU team of his decision, according to sources. Rhoades and Penn State had been in deep discussions earlier Wednesday but were waiting on university board approval to complete his contract, according to sources.

As the drama over Rhoades leaving played out the past few days, VCU quietly ran a search to replace him and was taking the final steps Wednesday to hire Utah State’s Ryan Odom, sources told ESPN.

A deal for Odom to become the Rams’ next coach is expected to come together in the coming days. VCU athletic director Ed McLaughlin has spoken to multiple candidates in the past few days in preparation of Rhoades leaving for Penn State, according to sources.

Rhoades has continued the recent tradition of consistent success at VCU, which is widely regarded as the best job in the Atlantic 10. The Rams have reached the NCAA tournament in three of the past four years the event has been held, and Rhoades is 129-61 in six seasons at VCU.

Rhoades would replace Micah Shrewsberry, who left for Notre Dame and will be formally introduced Thursday. Shrewsberry led Penn State to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011 and the school’s first tournament victory since 2001.

The hire of Rhoades would be a significant one, as he has reached as many NCAA tournaments at VCU in the past four years as Penn State has in the past two decades. The risk for Rhoades is that he’s leaving what is considered a high-end basketball job for a Penn State job that’s considered one of the lower-end positions in the Big Ten.

Rhoades was making nearly $1.7 million at VCU and is expected to be able to nearly double that at Penn State. It would mark yet another big hire for the Big Ten, which, along with the SEC, has reaped the benefits of lucrative television contracts in recent years.

Before VCU, Rhoades worked three years as the head coach at Rice, where he went 23-12 in his final season before being hired by the Rams. It marked a return to VCU for Rhoades, who was an associate head coach there from 2009 to 2014 under Shaka Smart.

Odom’s ties to the mid-Atlantic were a big allure in him emerging as the top candidate, as he has worked as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech and American and as the head coach at UMBC. While at UMBC, he coached the Retrievers in the first No. 16 over No. 1 upset in men’s NCAA tournament history, toppling top-seeded Virginia in March 2018.

Odom and McLaughlin worked together at American in the early 2000s, when McLaughlin worked as an associate athletic director and Odom as an assistant coach for Jeff Jones from 2000 to 2003.

ESPN’s Jeff Borzello contributed to this report.

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