Indiana under Tom Allen was not a bottom feeder team. Cignetti took over a middle tier B1G program. We are not changing coaches. Nobody wants this job and everyone else who had it was given 8 years. I think Mike is a good coach and we need to give him the same chances the others had. If you fire him now who the hell is coming here? No coach in their right mind wants this.
2025-26 PSU MBB Thread
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
- Start date
We’re two to three players away from being two to three players away….story of our bball program.
Hasn’t PSU always been just two to three players away from being two to three players away? Unfortunately, those two or three players never are on PSU’s roster, let alone the other two to three players.
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Okay, but this is his third season, and the program is demonstrably worse, if you can believe that, than when he took over. This is basketball and not football; you should be able to build a competitive basketball program in a few years. Right now, this program really doesn’t have a legitimate Power 4 or Power 5 roster for a below average team in one of those conferences.
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I always thought that Parkhill could’ve built a consistent Big 10 winning program if he had stayed, Unfortunately, as what always happens to this program, as soon as he started to get things going, he quit coaching seemingly out of the blue.
Also, Nebraska had less gravitas in basketball than what PSU did, but they’re now ranked in the top 10 because they hired a successful coach who had experienced success at another Power school.
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There has to be significant improvement next season and a strong recruiting/portal class coming in. It is difficult to at least not consider canning him if he is last or 2nd to last 3rd to last in the B10 again next year.
If we finish 2-18 or 1-19 or 3-17 in the B10 then would say we have to finish at a minimum 8-12 next season with at least one BTT win to be retained (not considering the economics- see below). There has to be some kind of glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Who cares how many years other coaches got. As for the new coach, we have to pay them a lot of money. No option but to do that so we can attract the highest level coach possible. Offer between $4.5 and $5 million per year.
With all that said, Rhoades' contract goes through 2030 I think at $3.7 million so if we fire him at the end of the '26-'27 season then we would owe him roughly $15 million. We probably don't pay that so we could be stuck with him for about 5-6 years.
All of this makes sense until people start naming names of potential candidates and they all are similar to Rhodes: All based on either some sort of ties to the university or the state or Philadelphia etc....Big names are immediately shot down due to disbelief that they could ever want the job. The only people who want the job are coaches like they have had. Parkhill took 8 years to reach the tournament and so did Dechellis and Chambers.
As if it wasn’t hard enough to get players to Penn State for basketball before, NIL is making it even more difficult. Other than revenue sharing money, there is very little money to go get players. Penn State will basically be offering its entire pool of money to the Mingos if they are both here next year.
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I think you're being too tough on Rhoades. PSU lost their #1 and #2 scorers who are the only 2 players to can take their man off the dribble. I think that's more bad luck than bad coaching.
Also a lot of schools give 15% revenue sharing/NIL to basketball. I read that PSU only gives 9%.
I agree but I'll also say that most teams are only 1-2 players away.
Look at the loss to UCLA. PSU lost because we got killed on the boards. Mingo is their 2nd leading rebounder and Dillione is their 4th leading rebounder. If PSU had those two guys + a power forward who could rebound and score inside they'd probably be 3-3 instead of 0-6 (and that's with a very difficult schedule).
It might take $2 million a year to attract that PF. Maybe another $2 million for Mingo's brother. Where does the money come from? It won't be football, especially after spending $700 million on the stadium.
If we don't want to spend then we will get what we are getting now, last place finishes out of 18 teams.
The first priority is retain Mingo while doing everything possible to land his brother. Then retain Dillione. Next spend money in the portal for an athletic big man and spend a lot to get a top guy. It takes money. Kraft and the GM, if we have one, has to realize that and sell it to the university. See what Rhoades can do with that.
How does PSU get the two or three players? I don't think PSU Bball can compete in the NIL market.
Its honestly the coach's job to find NIL money. Fair or not that's how things are.
Nebraska currently is undefeated and ranked in the top ten. I can’t believe that their NIL for basketball is that much more than what PSU has. Also, before Hoiberg became their coach, Nebraska was an absolute non-entity in college basketball, even more so than PSU. So what changed for them? Obviously, they hired a great coach who slowly has built a really good program by getting a little better year after year.
If a school like Nebraska can turn into a consistently good program, then why can’t PSU, which, unlike Lincoln, is located within a few hours of major urban areas that produce elite basketball players, at least become a consistent .500 Big 10 program?
I agree with most of what you’re saying, Penn State definitely can be better, but I believe Nebraska dumped a lot of money into the basketball program this year to increase NIL.
My guess is that they are not in the top half but the top half would all be team spending at least 5 million for just basketball
I agree with you but don't we all agree that's on the coach. He has to get people to buy in. If he can't...he has to go.
Truly rich people like feeling as though they're the reason good things happen...especially in sports.
I just think that NIL is used as a crutch when programs don’t win. I watched Vanderbilt, which is ranked in the top 20, battle defending NC Florida today until the bitter end; I can’t believe that Vanderbilt has a big NIL budget for most if any of their sports. Regardless, you can be sure that it’s nowhere near what Florida spends.
Under this current coach, I don’t know if it would make a big difference even if PSU spent much more on NIL. It all starts with the head coach, especially in that sport. You need somebody who can be a magnet to attract players like a Pitino or Calipari. PSU first should overpay to bring in a proven winner, and then the rest will take care of itself.
I also don’t want to hear that PSU can’t attract a big name coach; this is a Big 10 program close to a lot of basketball meccas like Philly and NYC. God, Pitino was so desperate to coach again after his scandal that he took the Iona job.
I have a pretty good idea that if PSU had hired a Pitino when he wanted to get back into coaching or a Calipari, who’s from Pittsburgh, after he was fired from UK, or even a Sean Miller, who’s from Beaver County, after his scandal at Arizona, PSU would be so much better than what it is now and NIL money would be pouring into the program. There never has been any ambition with this program, and until there is, you’re going to continue to get what you have.
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It may not be a popular opinion but isn't "getting a little better year after year" what Chambers was doing? Personally I think PSU basketball would be in better shape had they not fired Chambers.
The current team is very young with I think 8 Freshmen. We shall see how they develop.
This team is absolutely brutal. I haven’t watched a single game this year … they completely lost me, and I’m a perpetual guarded-optimist … but there was nothing else on, and with the forthcoming snow, no plans to go out and do anything, so I put this disaster on. Down 15 to an absolutely terrible UMD squad. They look slow and unathletic. I can’t even tell what defense they’re trying to play and UMD isn’t doing anything fancy on O. It’s just wide open shots and no effort by PSU. Oh, in the time it took me to post this they’re now down 21.
Go D3 or fold the program. Obviously Kraft & Co. don’t give a poo about it.
Go D3 or fold the program. Obviously Kraft & Co. don’t give a poo about it.
This is embarrassing.
Once again getting killed on the boards. Defense is late closing out on 3 pt shooters. Stewart can't make 3s. Actually nobody can. Missed front end of 1-1 twice.
It's nice to have Mingo & Dillione back but they both look like they're playing not to get hurt. Mingo isn't driving into the paint. Dillione's feet never left the floor while he reached for a rebound.
Once again getting killed on the boards. Defense is late closing out on 3 pt shooters. Stewart can't make 3s. Actually nobody can. Missed front end of 1-1 twice.
It's nice to have Mingo & Dillione back but they both look like they're playing not to get hurt. Mingo isn't driving into the paint. Dillione's feet never left the floor while he reached for a rebound.
Rhodes is terrible…. So so bad. Yeah we have zero depth and next to zero talent… neither of which are needed to coach good sound defense. This clown has his players out of position chasing ghosts around the court for the opportunity to create a turnover. Who the hell cares if you create 15 TO a game if you are giving up uncontested layups and wide open 3’s all game. You will never get talent to state college… so bring in a coach that recruits tough *** kids… hold teams to 60 points a game and slow the game way down. Drag the All Americans these other teams have into an ally fight.
Penn State should abandon the basketball program. It is quite evident the University could not care less regarding success (even mild success) of the program. Why should fans attend the games to witness loss after loss after loss. The University should be embarrassed at the state of of the program.
It was telling when Matt Campbell's first public appearance at a PSU event was Hockey, not basketball. Too bad. Although the BJC gets hate for not being intimidating, it's not the structure, it's the lack of fan presence. But I was there when Crispin was leading the team to the Sweet 16 and I remember the BJC rocking like Beaver Stadium in a whiteout. Build it and the fans will come. We just can't seem to build it.
Are the any PSU Bball alums who are involved in raising NIL to assist the coaching staff?
Vanderbilt has had a consistently competitive Bball progrm for years often making the NCAA tourney. Do you really think PSU would have hired Pitino or Miller after their scandals? Calipari would have been the only possibility of those three.
And be the only major conference team without MBB? They'd probably get kicked out of the conference. They'd also lose a lot of money. Conference revenue sharing makes MBB ptofitable.
The most frustrating thing is how PSU doesn't block out. How many times does the opponent miss only to get an offensive rebound and easy put back?
They did some of that to start the second half. The adjustment came too late.
I would have started it after his 2nd three in the game… Bingo 8 would have been called!