Quote:Dear Rice,

It has been a whirlwind few weeks for Rice Basketball and the Rhoades family but I wanted to reach out to so many great students and people on campus. I want to say THANK YOU. The last three years as your basketball coach had been a blast. Engaging with our amazing student athletes and supportive students was by far my favorite part of doing this job.

I loved coming to work everyday looking to move our program forward and we did so while having a lot of fun. The coaches and staff whom we worked with are now life long friends and no one will be bigger fans for them than me and my family. I appreciate everything Joe Karlgaard, Rick Mello and their team did to help us turn our program around. You have great leaders in Rice Athletics but even better people. I will especially miss the training room crew, Coach Knodel and all our friends who love Rice. Sharing the court with Tina Langley and her team was truly an honor. They are a special group of women. The mentoring and friendship of David Bailiff and his staff was special. It is amazing the impact great people have on your life. Thank you!

I love my guys! They know it and we are not ashamed to show it. I hope they continue to pursue their dreams as life long learners and follow their passions. It was absolutely my pleasure, honor and one of the high points of my life to coach and mentor them all. I thank you for allowing me into your lives and careers. I can't wait to watch the next chapters unfold. Jodie and I will always be there for you... you already know that.

Thank you to all the students that came along for the ride as we made RiceRising real talk. The Rice Rally Club and my guy Jeremy will always hold a special part of my time as coach for giving us a home court advantage. You brought school spirit to those great nights. With your continued support of these great guys, the new faces and Coach Pera, the rise has just begun and I can't wait to watch it go to greater heights.

Remember to enjoy the journey of being a Rice student more than trying to get to the end. The journey builds character, value, relationships and memories you will have with you forever. Rice is a great university but Rice students are special. Thank you for allowing me into your world as your basketball coach and wish all of you only the best.

Go Owls!

Thank you,

Coach Rhoades

http://www.ricethresher.org/article/2017...-thank-you

Really nice to see Rhoades pen that letter.

He didn't have to do it, and I think it does show that, despite him leaving for greener pastures, he actually had a vested interest (beyond his own career) in seeing Rice develop into a successful program.

Officially a VCU fan after that letter.

Letter says a lot about Rhoades. Nice job.

Don't read the Thresher anymore, so what I see from that source, I see here. Thus, I don't know / recall whether we had similar letters from Todd Graham or Scott Thompson or Fred Goldsmith (guys who left for "greener" pastures - - in Fred's case, maybe manure-lined is a more accurate description).

But this was a nice gesture, no doubt.

You gotta give the guy a decent amount of credit for that which he didn't have to do- but I really wish he had met with the players and told each and everyone to stay and finish what was started, that you have a great opportunity to build something here that would be a legacy. I would stay but this is an opportunity that only comes once in a lifetime and that I hope VCU will play Rice in the NCAA tournament.

As opposed to he who shall remain nameless amongst Owls.

Rice made a big mistake in 1974 when Coach Knodel was dumped and Bob Polk was brought in.

(04-19-2017 11:00 AM)dragon2owl Wrote:  

Quote:Dear Rice,

It has been a whirlwind few weeks for Rice Basketball and the Rhoades family but I wanted to reach out to so many great students and people on campus. I want to say THANK YOU. The last three years as your basketball coach had been a blast. Engaging with our amazing student athletes and supportive students was by far my favorite part of doing this job.

I loved coming to work everyday looking to move our program forward and we did so while having a lot of fun. The coaches and staff whom we worked with are now life long friends and no one will be bigger fans for them than me and my family. I appreciate everything Joe Karlgaard, Rick Mello and their team did to help us turn our program around. You have great leaders in Rice Athletics but even better people. I will especially miss the training room crew, Coach Knodel and all our friends who love Rice. Sharing the court with Tina Langley and her team was truly an honor. They are a special group of women. The mentoring and friendship of David Bailiff and his staff was special. It is amazing the impact great people have on your life. Thank you!

I love my guys! They know it and we are not ashamed to show it. I hope they continue to pursue their dreams as life long learners and follow their passions. It was absolutely my pleasure, honor and one of the high points of my life to coach and mentor them all. I thank you for allowing me into your lives and careers. I can't wait to watch the next chapters unfold. Jodie and I will always be there for you... you already know that.

Thank you to all the students that came along for the ride as we made RiceRising real talk. The Rice Rally Club and my guy Jeremy will always hold a special part of my time as coach for giving us a home court advantage. You brought school spirit to those great nights. With your continued support of these great guys, the new faces and Coach Pera, the rise has just begun and I can't wait to watch it go to greater heights.

Remember to enjoy the journey of being a Rice student more than trying to get to the end. The journey builds character, value, relationships and memories you will have with you forever. Rice is a great university but Rice students are special. Thank you for allowing me into your world as your basketball coach and wish all of you only the best.

Go Owls!

Thank you,

Coach Rhoades

http://www.ricethresher.org/article/2017...-thank-you

I will always think of Rhoades as a class act. Leavings are never pretty or without some hard feelings, but I really don't think he has done anything adverse to Rice that he didn't honestly believe that he had to do. The letter is a nice gesture but not an empty one--I am quite certain that he actually means everything he wrote. And I for one think he left the program in far better shape than he found it.

(04-19-2017 02:54 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  I will always think of Rhoades as a class act. Leavings are never pretty or without some hard feelings, but I really don't think he has done anything adverse to Rice that he didn't honestly believe that he had to do. The letter is a nice gesture but not an empty one--I am quite certain that he actually means everything he wrote. And I for one think he left the program in far better shape than he found it.

+1000.

Great letter!

If it had come just a few days earlier, it could have made it into today's print edition of The Thresher, which is the last one of this academic year. Oh well.

Well said, Owl 69/70/75. I appreciate his time and effort on the Rice campus and my only regret is that he didn't stay there longer to win more games. I will continue to be a fan of his.

(04-19-2017 02:54 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  I will always think of Rhoades as a class act. Leavings are never pretty or without some hard feelings, but I really don't think he has done anything adverse to Rice that he didn't honestly believe that he had to do. The letter is a nice gesture but not an empty one--I am quite certain that he actually means everything he wrote. And I for one think he left the program in far better shape than he found it.

We'll see about the last statement - it is hard to see if he truly laid any foundation until next season starts out and we see how the team does.

The Rhoades legacy will be somewhere in the range of slim to none depending on how things go under Pera. Rhoades is compareble to Thompson. He left no lasting legacy.

(04-19-2017 05:46 PM)temchugh Wrote:  The Rhoades legacy will be somewhere in the range of slim to none depending on how things go under Pera. Rhoades is compareble to Thompson. He left no lasting legacy.

I would say that both left the program better than they found it. But that may well be because both inherited raging dumpster fires.

Great letter and I really liked that he gave special thanks to Jeremy. Jeremy was on the fan committee and was a great sounding board for what the students really wanted.

(04-19-2017 05:46 PM)temchugh Wrote:  The Rhoades legacy will be somewhere in the range of slim to none depending on how things go under Pera. Rhoades is compareble to Thompson. He left no lasting legacy.

The first year after Thompson was probably the best Rice team in the last nearly 50 years despite their late season collapse. All(?) the best players recruited by Thompson returned. We came very close to beating the number 1 team in the country in our first game. Very different from Rhoades situation. We will most certainly be back to 20+ losses again next year. Also the program while up and down on average was much better after Thompson compared to the most of the 70's and 80's teams.

(04-19-2017 08:10 PM)DFW Owl Wrote:  

(04-19-2017 05:46 PM)temchugh Wrote:  The Rhoades legacy will be somewhere in the range of slim to none depending on how things go under Pera. Rhoades is compareble to Thompson. He left no lasting legacy.

The first year after Thompson was probably the best Rice team in the last nearly 50 years despite their late season collapse. All(?) the best players recruited by Thompson returned. We came very close to beating the number 1 team in the country in our first game. Very different from Rhoades situation. We will most certainly be back to 20+ losses again next year. Also the program while up and down on average was much better after Thompson compared to the most of the 70's and 80's teams.

Legacy is more than short term impact. A short timer coach only leaves a positive legacy if the team continues to improve after he leaves.

It was nice to have a coach who gets the Rice community as opposed to trying to keep his team as far away from the Rice community as possible.