This wasn’t the plan. It wasn’t discussed and hadn’t even crossed Rod Strickland’s mind when he took the head-coaching job at Long Island University last summer.

Sure, his two sons, Tai and Terell, were still in college and had remaining eligibility. But they had their own careers and lives to live out. He didn’t even suggest they join him, not after he took the job late last June.

“I wanted to come in and give an opportunity to the young fellas already here,” the former Knicks point guard told The Post. “I didn’t want to rock the boat, to be honest.”

Then, over the past year, everything changed. LIU struggled mightily through a 3-26 campaign in Strickland’s first season as a college head coach, ranking 363rd out of 363 teams graded by KenPom.com.