Rick Rhoades graduated from high school in Broomfield Colorado. He was a 1970 Central Missouri State graduate and earned his Masters degree in 1975 from Troy State. Rhoades started his football career playing guard at Central Missouri before turning to coaching.

Rhoades accepted his first head coaching position at Handley High School in 1972. After only one season at the school, he served as an assistant coach at Jeff Davis High School in Montgomery before accepting the head coaching job at Mountain Brook in Birmingham in 1976.

He led the Spartans to a 14-0 record and a State Championship in 1976. He landed at Davidson for one season in 1977 before departing for Andalusia in 1980. He only stayed with the Bulldogs for one season.

He was the offensive coordinator at North Alabama (1981-1982) and defensive coordinator at Troy (1983-1984) with the 1984 Troy team winning the Division II National Championship.

Coach Rhoades accepted the head coaching position at Troy State in 1985. During his three-year tenure at Troy, he coached the Trojans to the 1987 NCAA Division II National Championship. In 1988, he became the head coach at Southern Illinois and stayed with the program for one season.

In 1989, Rhoades served as the quarterbacks coach at the University of Alabama before becoming the offensive coordinator at the Kentucky from 1990-1992 under Coach Bill Curry.

Rhoades became head coach at Nicholls State University in 1993. In his first year at Nicholls State, the team finished with a 3-8 record but improved to 5-6 in his second season for an overall record of 8-14 at the school.

In 1995 Rhoades worked one year as linebackers coach at Stephen F. Austin University before returning to the high school coaching ranks at Pelham High School. He posted a 41-19 record and five playoff appearances in five seasons at the helm. In his first season in Pelham, the Panthers were quarterbacked by junior to-be Tyler Watts, one of the top college prospects in the nation.

Rhoades made the move to professional football as the offensive line coach for the Birmingham Thunderbolts of the XFL in 2001

Rhoades next collegiate head coaching job was at Delta State University. He held the position from 2002-2006 and had a record of 38-20. In his final season, he led Delta State to the Division II national semifinals

From 2007-2011, Rhoades was head coach of the Graz Giants in the Austrian Football League. Since 2007, the Giants have reached the Austrian Bowl every year winning it in 2008. That same year the Giants won the EFAF Cup. Under Rhoades guidance the Giants reached the Eurobowl semifinals four times. He was also the head coach of the Austrian national team for two years, guiding the team to a second place finish in the European championships in 2010 and a seventh place finish in the World Championships.

He was the head coach of the La Courneuve Flash in France until late April 2013. His overall football coaching record in Alabama as a high school coach is 69-34-1 in 8 seasons.