A-10 COACH OF THE YEAR? MOONEY OR ODOM ... OR BOTH

 For What It’s Worth (and, remember, it is only sports):

Take a bow, CHRIS MOONEY and RYAN ODOM. It says here 

you should be co-Atlantic 10 coaches of the year … Although we 

still question how Mooney uses his big men, the UR boss has taken a 

bunch of marginal players (mostly transfers) and turned them into a 

successful, fun-to-watch unit … that has performed way beyond all 

reasonable expectations … In his first season at VCU, Odom was left 

with some talent by former coach MIKE RHOADES … but, with 

few exceptions, was limited to one-on-one mentality. Add a few 

transfers, including one playing for his fourth (or was it fifth?) school 

and another who couldn’t fit in with a team-concept stressed at his 

previous stop, and there must have been times when Odom wondered 

why he left Utah State for Franklin Street … At least, he was left 

with a clean program, unlike Rhoades who, when he arrived to 

replace WILL WADE, reportedly found under-the-table payoffs that 

led to an immediate roster reduction ... not to mention resentment by 

some who thought Rhoades shouldn’t have acted so harshly … and 

simply looked the other way. Shortly thereafter, Wade was accused 

(and later found guilty) of breaking NCAA rules at LSU. Meanwhile, 

VCU said it did a “thorough” investigation of its own … and found 

no improprieties by Wade during his three seasons there … Odom 

had a different problem: How to convince his troops their only 

chance to have a good season was to play good defense and, in the 

end, they were willing to listen after losing games to teams they 

should have beaten. Sharing the ball, finding the open man, also 

made the Rams a team to beat in the balanced-but-weak-overall 

conference.

…… Rhoades left VCU for a lot of money at Penn State … where he 

is 14-14 (8-9 Big 10) after beating No. 12 Illinois then Indiana after 

cutting his leading scorer for reasons not explained … for the record.

“Coach’s decision,” Rhoades told reporters. “I’ll leave it at that.” … 

From all indications, the players did not object, at least too much. 

“Everyone in the locker room has faith in the program … and coach 

Rhoades,” said co-captain PUFF JOHNSON … With shot-hungry 

sophomore guard KANYE CLARY (16.7) history, even more was 

expected of former VCU standout ACE BALDWIN … and he has 

delivered. In the 83-74 victory Saturday at home against Indiana, he 

scored 23 points (taking only 12 shots from the floor) as the Nittany 

Lions had four players in double figures … One of two players to 

follow Rhoades from VCU to Happy Valley, Baldwin also finished 

with four steals against the Hoosiers to rank sixth nationally, first in 

the Big 10, averaging 2.78. He has 261 for his career, second among 

active players … NICK KERN JR., the other former VCU player at 

PSU, is third in scoring (8.8) and second in rebounding (4.1) … 

Clary, a three-star recruit in 2022, was one of only three holdovers 

from last year’s team.

Until next time ...