The Rice Owls got a little more black and gold today as former Ram assistant turned Rice head coach, Mike Rhoades, hired former VCU point guard Joey Rodriguez to act as video specialist with the Owls.
Rodriguez played two seasons with Rhoades on the Rams’ coaching staff, first during the 2010 CBI Championship season, Rhoades’ first year at VCU, then during his senior season that ended in a run to the 2011 Final 4.
Rodriguez had served in a similar capacity at the University of Central Florida before taking a game designer job with EA Sports while also coaching his high school alma mater, Lake Howell.
“I loved working at EA and Lake Howell,” Rodriguez told VCURamNation.com. “The people I’ve worked with and coaches this past year were all great people and it was hard to leave them, but I am one of the biggest Mike Rhoades fans in the country. I love what he’s about and once I got the offer it was a no-brainer to join him in what he’s building here at Rice.”
Rodriguez played four years at VCU — two years under Anthony Grant, then two more under Shaka Smart once Grant left for the same position at Alabama. He finished his career ranking top-three all-time in assists, steals and three-point field goals while leading VCU deeper through the NCAA tournament, helping his team break that tourney’s record for made threes en route to a Final 4 trip to Houston, a town he will now call home in his return to college basketball.
