John Rhodes, an assistant at Division I Northeastern, has been named head men�s basketball coach at Ohio Northern.
�Getting the opportunity to coach at Ohio Northern makes this the most memorable Memorial Day for my family and I,� Rhodes said. �It is a humbling experience to follow in the footsteps of such great coaches as Gale Daugherty, Joe Campoli and Jeff Coleman. I�m excited to grow the passion for ONU. The reputation of this school precedes it. I started looking at ONU and it didn�t take long to figure out that this is a great place to be. We look forward to helping our young players reach their potential. We are going to play hard and have some fun.�
&&f-boxl&&Ohio Northern finished 18-9 this past season. Coleman stepped down after compiling a 73-34 mark in four seasons.
Northeastern finished the 2008-09 season with a 19-13 record and a third place finish in the Colonial Athletic Association with a 12-6 mark.
Rhodes spent nine seasons as an assistant at his alma mater, Ohio University, from 1999-2004 before being named the associate head coach prior to the 2004-05 season. While at Ohio, Rhodes helped lead the Bobcats to winning seasons in seven of his nine years, including four seasons in a row from 2004-08.
Ohio made the postseason twice in Rhodes� tenure, winning the Mid-American Conference Tournament and advancing to the NCAA Tournament during the 2004-05 season and earning a berth to the inaugural College Basketball Invitational in 2007-08.
Before coaching, Rhodes played professional basketball in Europe for eight years, making stops in Germany, France and Iceland. In 1992, he was named the Icelandic Basketball League�s Most Valuable Player.
Rhodes was a four-year letterman for Ohio from 1984-88. A star center for the Bobcats, Rhodes served as team captain was named second-team All-MAC his senior year. In the Ohio career record books, he ranks third in field goal percentage (.567), fourth in blocked shots (121), and 10th in rebounds (744).
A Milwaukee native, Rhodes graduated from Ohio in 1988 with a bachelor�s degree in Journalism/Public Relations.