Rice tabs VCU assistant Rhoades as coach

Mar 26, 2014 - 6:44 PM Houston, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Rice has hired VCU assistant Mike Rhoades to replace Ben Braun as head men's basketball coach.

Rice will formally introduce Rhoades at a press conference on Thursday.

Rhoades has spent the past five season on Shaka Smart's staff at VCU, helping the Rams reach the last four NCAA Tournaments. The Rams were upset by No. 12 seed Stephen F. Austin last Friday in overtime.

"Rice has made a phenomenal hire in Mike Rhoades," Smart said. "He's a tremendous person, a tireless worker and an inspiring leader. Over the past five years, Mike has been instrumental to our success and played a key role in literally every facet of our program. While it is sad to see him go, I am so excited for Mike and his family to be joining the Rice community. Great days are ahead."

Prior to his stint at VCU, Rhoades coached Division III Randolph-Macon for 10 seasons, going 197-76 and making four NCAA Tournament appearances.

He takes over for Braun, who resigned March 13 after six seasons as coach of the Owls.

Braun's teams had a losing record five times. The longtime college coach went 63-128 at Rice and led the 2011-12 team to a berth in the quarterfinals of the CollegeInsider.com tournament.