Penn State basketball top three priorities, next steps
The dust has nearly settled on Penn State basketball’s tumultuous week. Mike Rhoades is expected to become the next head coach of the Nittany Lions, according to multiple sources.
The agreement in principle ends a week-long search following the exit of Micah Shrewsberry to Notre Dame last Wednesday afternoon. A move that served as a serious blow to the program’s momentum following a 23-14 campaign highlighted by a Big Ten Tournament championship game appearance and a run to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament, Penn State and Rhoades can now attempt to start fresh.
Doing so will require an immediate set of action items for Rhoades and the staff he forms at Penn State, though. With time being of the essence, here is a look at the top three priorities for Rhoades to address:
1) Hire Adam Fisher (if he’s available)
This one is straightforward. Penn State has a candidate for the head coaching position at Temple, who Shrewsberry wants to keep on his staff at Notre Dame, who is an excellent lead recruiter and a player and parent favorite. Pursued last offseason by Jim Larranaga to return to Miami to take on the Hurricanes’ top assistant seat, his demand isn’t in question.
Neither is his impact on the recruiting trail. The primary contact delivering Jalen Pickett to the Nittany Lions in the earliest days of Shrewsberry’s tenure, and a major motivator in bringing Calvin Booth’s son, Carey, to Penn State, Fisher’s reputation is earned. It’s also a big reason why Penn State’s donors have leaned on Kraft, working to navigate a scenario in which Fisher remains on the staff.
If the Temple job, of which he’s a finalist, doesn’t pan out, Penn State and Rhoades would be wise to allocate their resources and efforts to accommodating Fisher’s return.
2) Salvage relationships and support
This one is wide-ranging in scope but is intentional nonetheless. The reality following Penn State’s abrupt upheaval is that the people critical to the program’s success were left adrift. That’s current players, that’s recruits in the Class of 2024 and 2025, that’s prospects in the transfer portal, and that’s all of their parents and guardians. It’s also Penn State’s donor class, which made a late push of financial commitments to NIL to retain Shrewsberry.
Some ships have sailed. Braeden Shrewsberry isn’t sticking with the Nittany Lions. His buddy, Logan Imes, also isn’t likely to stick around if Fisher isn’t the head coach. Carey Booth, the highest-rated of the three-man Class of 2023 would be a long shot, too, without Fisher in the head chair, and maybe even with it.
But, Rhoades and the Nittany Lions have to at least try to salvage the recruiting class.
Concurrently, Penn State’s five-man Class of 2022 will also be in play. Only Evan Mahaffey has officially entered the transfer portal, and Kebba Njie is easily identifiable as another likely-gone piece of Penn State’s scholarship chart. They can always change their minds. But, Kanye Clary, Jameel Brown, and Demetrius Lilley have, at minimum, geographic incentives to consider sticking.
On the recruiting trail, players like Royce Parham, Thomas Sorber, Daquan Davis, Matt Gilhool, Sir Mohammed, and Jalil Bethea are still in play from the Class of 2024.
And, finally, Rhoades, Kraft, and every other Penn State rep needs to re-establish confidence with the program’s donor class. Commitments in NIL that were earmarked for Shrewsberry aren’t all sitting in the bank. Rather, they were contingent on the head coach remaining in place.
That $750k to $1 million in NIL funding Shrewsberry was seeking is no less important, though, to what the Nittany Lions need moving forward in the portal and its roster retention. Money talks. And in this case, it’s going to be a crucial element to Rhoades’ ability to build a competitive team immediately.
3) Build in the portal
At VCU, the same concept carries over, and it’s particularly important in the roadmap to building an immediate winner.
Christian Fermin, a four-star center, and Fatts Billups, a four-star shooting guard, are both Top 150 prospects. Adrian “Ace” Baldwin is the reigning Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. He had first- and second-team All-A10 nods the past two seasons.
The Rams won the A10 this past season. They were good. Where applicable, Rhoades should attempt to bring his best players to Penn State.
With or without Fisher, Rhoades must also quickly establish targets outside of existing Penn State and VCU rosters. Immediately after Penn State’s NCAA Tournament appearance, which centered on an unofficial visit from St. Francis forward Josh Cohen. There are others.
Shrewsberry took a gutted roster and delivered an NCAA Tournament appearance in his second year at the helm. He did it with portal pick ups in Pickett, Andrew Funk, and Camren Wynter. All three were transfers from the past two offseasons. All three finished among his top four scorers, with a second-team All-American in Pickett.
College basketball roster management is built on relationships and resources. It will be incumbent on not just Rhoades, but also the entirety of the Penn State support system from the president to the AD, donor class, and assistant coaches, to establish and restore those critical ingredients to success moving forward.
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