Mike Rhoades Confirms Basketball Coaching Staff

Mar 30, 2023 - 7:46 PM

It’s been less than 24 hours since Mike Rhoades’ hire at Penn State became official, but the new head coach is already in the midst of rounding out his coaching staff.

During his introductory press conference on Thursday afternoon, Rhoades confirmed that four members of his VCU coaching staff — Jamal Brunt, JD Byers, Brent Scott, and Jimmy Martelli — will be coming with him to Happy Valley. He also confirmed the hire of Penn State legend Joe Crispin, who previously has been serving as the head coach of Division III college Rowan University.

Here’s the staff’s coaching background with their previous stops.

JAMAL BRUNT
2003-05: Randolph-Macon, Assistant Coach
2005-07: Richmond, Director of Operations
2007-13: Richmond, Assistant Coach
2013-15: Richmond, Associate Head Coach
2015-18: Miami (Fla.), Assistant Coach
2018-23: VCU, Associate Head Coach

JD BYERS
2005-06: Fairleigh Dickinson-Madison, Graduate Assistant
2006-07: Lebanon Valley, Assistant Coach
2007-10: Randolph-Macon, Assistant Coach
2010-11: St. Francis (Pa.), Assistant Coach
2011-14: Radford, Assistant Coach
2014-17: Rice, Assistant Coach
2017-23: VCU, Assistant Coach

BRENT SCOTT
2007-08: Rice, Assistant Coach
2008-12: LSU, Assistant Coach
2012-16: TCU, Assistant Coach
2016-17: Rice, Assistant Coach
2017-23: VCU, Assistant Coach

JIMMY MARTELLI
2005-06: Dickinson College, Assistant Coach
2006-07: Randolph-Macon, Assistant Coach
2007-10: Robert Morris, Assistant Coach
2010-13: Rutgers, Assistant Coach
2017-23: VCU, Director of Operations

JOE CRISPIN
2014-16: Rowan, Assistant Coach
2016-23: Rowan, Head Coach

It’s a solid staff that hits a lot of different marks. Brunt is a really strong recruiter in the DMV and Baltimore in particular. Byers and Scott have been with Rhoades since Rice; Byers has plenty of ties to the region, while Scott has a notable track record as a big man coach. Martelli is the son of Phil Martelli, giving the staff a strong Philadelphia connection. And then there’s Crispin, who is finally making the move to the Division I ranks after nearly a decade at Rowan. His offensive philosophy (3>2) will help on the court, while his status as a Penn State basketball legend should help off it.