Penn State men’s basketball announces first hires under new coach Mike Rhoades
Penn State men’s basketball has announced the first five additions to its new men’s basketball staff and it includes a program legend.
Joe Crispin, who was with the other four staff members at Thursday’s introductory press conference for Mike Rhoades, will be the assistant to the head coach.
Crispin played at Penn State from 1997-2001 and led the 2000-2001 team to the NCAA Tournament and ultimately a berth in the Sweet 16. He’s also the fourth leading scorer in program history with 1,986 points.
The former Nittany Lion will be joined by four coaches who have spent plenty of time on Rhoades’ previous staffs.
Jamal Brunt joins as the associate head coach after spending 2018-2023 at VCU with Rhoades. He previously coached with former Penn State associate head coach Adam Fisher at Miami. Brunt is originally from Baltimore and coached with and played for Rhoades at Division III school Randolph-Macon.
Assistant coach J.D. Byers has coached with Rhoades at his last two stops — Rice and VCU — while also doing the same at Randolph-Macon. He was at the former two schools for the entirety of Rhoades’ tenure (2014-2023).
Brent Scott, the third on-court assistant coach, was at Rice for the 2016-2017 season with Rhoades and followed him to VCU. He previously coached in the SEC at LSU from 2008-2012 and in the Big 12 at TCU from 2012-2016. Scott played professionally for 14 years, mostly overseas, and was inducted into the Rice Hall of Fame in 2015 after his career there from 1989-1993.
Jimmy Martelli will be the team’s chief of staff, a role formerly held by Nick Colella, who is expected to stay with the program in another capacity, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. Martelli is the son of Philadelphia coaching legend Phil Martelli, who spent 1995-2019 coaching the St. Joseph’s Hawks and is now the associate head coach at Michigan. The younger Martelli was previously an assistant coach at various stops, but last held that title at Rutgers from 2010-2013 under head coach Mike Rice. Rice was fired after a video was released of him shoving, grabbing and throwing balls at players and using gay slurs during practice. Martelli resigned following the scandal.
This story was originally published March 31, 2023 at 11:44 AM.
