Coming off an A-10 championship and NCAA tournament berth, VCU coach Mike Rhoades may be in line for an extension

“But I’ll say it anyway,” McLaughlin said.

Rhoades and his staff guided VCU to a 27-8 record, the Atlantic 10 championship and an NCAA tournament berth.

As they do after every season, the two will sit down in the next few days to discuss the program. Part of that likely will include an extension of Rhoades’ contract.

He has four years left on the extension he signed in 2021, and VCU has extended him twice at that mark.

“Obviously part of that discussion I’m sure will be just what Mike’s vision is for him wanting to be here, which obviously he does, and what contractually that’ll look like as well,” McLaughlin said. “Once I get that discussion with him, I’ll sit down with our university leadership obviously and talk through what we can do.”

Rhoades’ VCU teams have gone 129-61 in six seasons, with three trips to the NCAA tournament and one to the NIT.

After serving as Randolph-Macon’s head coach for 10 seasons, Rhoades became an assistant at VCU from 2009 to 2014. He spent three seasons as the head coach at Rice before returning as the Rams’ head coach in 2017-18.

He originally signed a six-year deal worth $1.2 million per year. He signed a two-year contract extension in 2019 and another two-year extension in 2021 that runs through 2027.

That extension called for Rhoades to make more than $1.72 million in 2023 in base salary and supplemental compensation. Bonuses for this year’s season will push the total to more than $1.86 million.

VCU had growing pains trying to blend all-conference point guard Ace Baldwin with a group of sophomores assuming bigger roles, three transfers, a few veterans and several freshmen. After a 5-4 start, the Rams won 22 of their final 26 games.

Baldwin was named the A-10 player of the year and the defensive player of the year. Transfer forward Brandon Johns Jr. and sophomore forward Jalen DeLoach were named to the third team.

“I think he really found a way to create an identity for our team in the middle of the season, which is hard to do,” McLaughlin said. “He really, really connected with the guys this year. You could tell he was enjoying coaching them as well just by watching. I spent a lot of time around the program this season, and I think Mike did a heck of a job.

“It’s our goal always to try to win a championship, but it’s hard to do in this league. For him to win the regular season and the tournament for the first time anyone in our league has done that in 10 years, and our first A-10 championship in basketball since 2015, obviously super happy with that.

“As we look forward, it’s certainly [the goal] for us to be back in the NCAA tournament next year, winning games and advancing in the NCAA tournament, along with championships … ”

Part of the discussion, McLaughlin said, will be about wanting “to make sure we are always staying on the front of what we can do to give our kids the best experience and give our team the best chance to win.”

“So we’ll kind of do a full debrief of the season … “ he said, “just what are the things we need to do to make sure in this crazy time with the transfer portal and [Name, Image and Likeness] … some of the stuff we don’t control, what are the things we do control to make sure we can continue to put out a really good product.”