Penn State Basketball: The Best Thing Mike Rhoades Has Done
Penn State Basketball Head Coach Mike Rhoades made a significant announcement, adding former Nittany Lion great Talor Battle to the coaching staff.
After what can only be described as a wildly disappointing 2024-2025 season on the court relying heavily on fifth-year seniors, it was clear a shake-up was needed this offseason as Rhoades heads into this third season with the white and blue.
To add to the dismay, three players in his first recruiting class, including both the No. 2 (Miles Goodman) and No. 5 (Hudson Ward) recruits in school history, announced their addition to the transfer portal (along with Jahvin Carter).
Enter Talor Battle, the program’s all-time leading scorer and former assistant coach before not being retained under previous head coach Micah Shrewsberry.
Battle has spent time coaching his brother Boo Buie at Northwestern and then the scarlet and gray of Ohio State last year. He was given the game ball after the Buckeyes’ destruction of the Nittany Lions at Rec Hall earlier this year. Battle has been widely lauded in coaching circles, specifically for his work in developing guards.
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How Talor Battle Fits on Penn State’s Coaching Staff
Battle will be replacing Jimmy Martelli on Rhoades’ staff.
Martelli was hired by his brother, Phil Martelli Jr., who was hired at, ironically, VCU. Martelli Jr. was hired after leading the Bryant Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament. It sure will be interesting if and when Penn State plays the Rams, as has been reported was contractually obligated when Rhoades left VCU for PSU.
Why is this a big deal? It’s two-fold. For one, this is the first sign from this coaching staff that the 2024-2025 season did not meet expectations. It’s a nice sign of self-awareness that this was not what Rhoades was looking for in a year where the Nittany Lions should have at least threatened an NCAA Tournament experience.
Whether changing an assistant coach will have a monumental effect is to be determined. But, it’s a nice acknowledgement that things must improve.
Secondly, this is a significant nod to a previous, successful era of Nittany Lion basketball.
Talor Battle was a four-year starter for the Nittany Lions, winning an NIT Championship in 2009 and taking his team to the NCAA Tournament in 2011.
To see him coaching in the Big Ten AGAINST Penn State was significantly uncomfortable. Our program’s all-time leading scorer should not be wearing purple and white, or scarlet and gray, or any other colors but blue and white (or pink and gray).
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NittanyCentral is his second reporting job following the Men's Basketball program. He co-founded and co-hosts the Shots Gotta Fall - The Penn State Basketball Podcast (the premiere, the best, the only) with Steve Travis.
Smith's most proud moment covering the team was seeing the national No. 9 ranking during Pat Chambers' last year. His most embarrassing moment was spending almost a thousand dollars to travel 2,000 miles in 46 hours to watch the Nittany Lions lose to Temple in the 2011 NCAA Tournament (screw you Juan Fernandez).
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