After the Rams loss to St. Mary’s College in the NCAA tournament last week, Ram Nation found themselves in a familiar position, waiting to see if the coaching carousel would swing ’round one more time on Broad St.
Late Monday night, news broke that VCU men’s basketball coach, Will Wade, accepted an offer for the same position at Louisiana State University.
After hot stepping through the 5 stages of the grieving process in record time, VCU fans and alumni made it known who they wanted at the helm of VCU basketball.
Their voices were heard and answered, as Athletic Director, Ed McLaughlin, announced that former VCU assistant, Mike Rhoades, is the next coach for VCU men’s basketball.
Rhoades was an assistant from 2009 to 2014 under Shaka Smart, including during VCU’s run to the Final Four in 2011.
The Pennsylvania native is very familiar with basketball in Central Virginia. He coached at Randolph Macon College from 1999 to 2009, where he helped RMC win 4 consecutive 1st place finishes in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) from 2001 to 2005.
Rhoades left VCU in 2014 to accept the head coaching position at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Rhoades took them from a 12 win season to a 23 win season during his three seasons there.
(Image credit: VCU_Graphix)
