Sources: Penn State basketball losing assistant, but adding all-time leading scorer to staff
Penn State’s coaching staff will be undergoing some changes this offseason.
Assistant coach Jimmy Martelli will be leaving the staff to return to VCU and will be replaced by Ohio State assistant coach Talor Battle, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation.
Battle is the Nittany Lions’ men’s basketball all-time leading scorer with 2,213 points and led the program to one of its two NCAA Tournament appearances over the last 20 years. He spent one year as an assistant at Ohio State and the three previous years as an assistant at Northwestern.
Martelli has been on Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades’ staff since 2017 when Rhoades became the head coach at VCU. He was the director of operations there for six seasons and followed Rhoades to Penn State, where he was promoted to assistant coach after J.D. Byers left the staff to join Virginia Tech after a few weeks. His brother, Phil Jr., was recently hired as the head coach at VCU.
The Nittany Lions have gone 32-32 under Rhoades, including 16-15 this season with a 6-14 record in Big Ten play.
