Penn State basketball has always been an afterthought. Penn State is a football school, and after that, wrestling, women’s volleyball, and now even men’s hockey are national championship contenders. Still, there are Penn State basketball fans who hold out hope that one day, the program will be a consistent winner, but it doesn’t appear that day will come anytime soon.
On Wednesday night, Penn State fell 94-62 to Ohio State at the Bryce-Jordan Center in Happy Valley, dropping to 12-18 overall and 3-16 in Big Ten play. Third-year head coach Mike Rhoades was understandably asked if he thought it could have been his last game coaching at the BJC, and his response was not what those hopeful Penn State fans wanted to hear.
"My last game? No,” he told the assembled media in his postgame press conference. "I've got four years left on my contract, so, do you think it’s going to be my last game? I’m going to coach my butt off, go as hard as I can. Wake up tomorrow, work hard, work harder than I ever have, and just keep going and keep coaching."
Mike Rhoades doesn’t think he’s going anywhere, and he’s probably right
Here’s the harsh reality: Mike Rhoades is never going to turn Penn State into a winning basketball program, and that’s okay. Sure, he’s three years removed from Micah Shrewsberry’s run to the NCAA Tournament and first-round win in his second season, but this is a program that’s made the Big Dance three times this century.
In an 18-team Big Ten that is looking to put at least 10 teams into the NCAA Tournament every year, somebody has to take those losses, and Penn State is content to be that program. There’s only so much money in the revenue-sharing pot every year, and most of it goes to the football program, so athletic director Pat Kraft is better off spending the rest on wrestling, volleyball, hockey, and whatever other sports the university wants to be competitive in other than basketball.
The tradition isn’t there with Penn State basketball, so the investment from boosters isn’t there. Without the money to spend on building an elite roster and considering what it would take to pay Rhoades’ buyout, the next promising young head coach Kraft would pluck from a mid-major school would sink right back to the bottom of the Big Ten.
If the price for a women’s volleyball title, Cael Sanderson’s run of dominance, and Gavin McKenna is miserable basketball season after miserable basketball season, it’s a price Penn State fans should be willing to pay.