Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1496986
1 4 M A Y 2 0 2 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M "We wanted to find a coach who wanted to be at Penn State. We wanted someone that had the same confidence and chip on the shoulder that we all have as an organization. We wanted someone who knew how special Penn State was but also loved to compete. You've got to compete every day. We wanted someone who wasn't going to back down from anything. He was going to go and fight for Penn State every single day and was going to grind. You've got to grind to be great." — Penn State athletics director Patrick Kraft on the qualities that attracted PSU to Rhoades "We lost Micah for a number of reasons, but one of the biggest reasons was a lack of support through NIL. College sports is a changing landscape, and if we want to be competitive, we need to be competi- tive at all levels. NIL is a key element of that." — Penn State trustee Brandon Short on the factors that led basketball coach Micah Shrewsberry to leave for Notre Dame "Every year since 2013, Penn State has faced Ohio State and Michigan in the same season and has never gone 2-0 against them during that span. The Nittany Lions have defeated Michigan four times since then and Ohio State just once (2016). If PSU is going to impress the selection committee, it has to win at least one of those games to either finish as a one-loss Big Ten runner-up or conference champion. Two of Penn State's three toughest division games are on the road — Oct. 21 at Ohio State and Nov. 4 at Maryland — before it hosts Michigan on Nov. 11." — ESPN college football writer Heather Dinich, on the hurdles that Penn State will face this fall in its bid to make the College Football Playoff for the first time "Penn State is among the darlings of the offseason, as the Nittany Lions look positioned to potentially make the College Football Playoff field for the first time under Franklin. The next step for Franklin and PSU is to start winning more games against its rivals (4-14 vs. Ohio State and Michigan). Still, with the expanded playoff coming, Franklin looks likely to bust through the doorstep at some point, as he's proven to be one of the best program-builders in the country." — On3's Jesse Simonton on James Franklin, who placed fourth behind Michigan's Jim Harbaugh, Ohio State's Ryan Day and Wisconsin's Luke Fickell in the writer's ranking of the Big Ten's top coaches "Like father, like son in Pittsburgh? The Steelers drafted linebacker Joey Porter in the third round in 1999, and they have a need for his son in 2023. Porter is an aggressive 6-foot-2 corner who was a three-year starter for the Nittany Lions. He picked off just one pass in his career, but he had 11 pass breakups in 2022, so he gets his hands on the foot- ball when it's headed in his direction." — ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr., speculating on whether the Steelers might select PSU corner- back Joey Porter Jr. with the 17th overall pick "After 3 of them thangs, I am extremely grate- ful for the plan and opportunities. … I enjoy be- ing with the Penn State family and dominating with the best program in the world. However, the Olympics are around the corner, and that's what I want. The peak of the sport. I will talk with the people I trust and make a decision on finishing my college career early, training strictly for my Olympic [chance] and then going right into MMA, or running down the college scene one last time for my 4th." — Carter Starocci, winner of the past three 174-pound national wrestling titles, assessing his career options in a March 31 tweet They Said It Mike Rhoades, formerly of Virginia Commonwealth, was introduced on March 31 as the new men's basketball coach at Penn State. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS "We want to build something that is bold, different and aggressive, and not be afraid. I know this: Like the people of this commonwealth and this university, every day we're going to go to work. We will be blue collar. We will have dirt on our hands, and we'll be damn proud of it. That's who we are around here. That's what our basketball program is going to become." — Mike Rhoades, at his introduction as men's basketball head coach at Penn State