Coming Home; Joe Crispin Joining Mike Rhoades’ Staff at Penn State

Story posted March 31, 2023 in

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State hired Mike Rhoades as its new head basketball coach, and he wasted no time bringing in a coach with Penn State roots, adding Joe Crispin to his coaching staff.

Coach Rhoades was very excited to be able to bring Crispin in, who is coming on to the staff to help build the program at Penn State.

“His pride in Penn State is something else,” Rhoades said. “Beyond that, Joe knows basketball; he was a pro and a successful basketball coach.”

Crispin is one of the top players to ever play at Penn State, helping lead the Nittany Lions to the Sweet 16 in 2001. During his time in the blue and white, Crispin scored 1,986 points during his career at Penn State, good for fourth on the all-time scoring list.

Crispin parlayed his success into a professional career that saw him play one full season in the NBA during 2001-02, splitting time with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns. Crispin finished his playing career in 2012.

The Nittany Lions player started coaching after his playing career at the Division III level, becoming an assistant on the Rowan University staff. Crispin eventually took over the Rowan program in 2016, and was the coach before leaving the program to join Rhoades’ staff at his alma mater.

While at Rowan, Crispin helped lead one of the most prolific offenses in the history of the program. During the 2021-22 season, the team averaged 92.6 points per game, and maintained a high-scoring offense during the 2022-23 season, averaging 91.4 points per game.

Along with his prolific offense, Crispin was a winner during his time with the Profs. The head man never had a losing season during his head coaching career with Rowan, with his worst season being a 13-13 record during the 2017-18 season.

His best season was in his final year with the Profs, leading the team to an impressive 24-6 overall record and a 16-2 conference mark, winning the New Jersey Athletic Conference in the process. The Profs advanced all the way to the Sweet 16 of the Division III NCAA Tournament, before falling to Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Crispin will be bringing a huge winning culture along with Rhoades to University Park, and is looking to help build a winning program in Happy Valley.

Adam Sheetz is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email ads360@psu.edu.

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Adam Sheetz

Junior / Broadcast Journalism

Adam Sheetz is a third year student from Reedsville, Pennsylvania majoring in broadcast journalism. He has been a broadcaster for WCHX 105.5 FM in Mifflin County covering high school sports. He has also been a member of CommRadio since his first semester at Penn State, being involved in both the Arts and Sports departments. Adam has extensive experience in a play-by-play setting within CommRadio, covering football, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer and volleyball for the station. He has done written content for CommRadio ranging from Penn State football articles all the way to discussing Disney Channel movies. To contact Adam, email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).