West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez reacts after a fourth-quarter score against Georgia in the 2006 Sugar Bowl. Rodriguez was rehired at WVU following the firing of six-year head coach Neal Brown after the 2024 regular season.
Marshall coach Mark Snyder, left, and West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez embrace following a college football game Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007, in Huntington, W.Va. West Virginia won 48-23.
West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez (right) high-fives kicker Pat McAfee (40) after the Mountaineers beat Maryland 31-14 in a college football game, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007, in College Park, Md.
West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez, center, talks with his players during the second half of a college football game against Mississippi State, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2007 in Morgantown, W.Va. West Virginia won, 38-13.
West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez watches from the sideline during an NCAA football game against Marshall on Saturday, Sept. 2, 2006, at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown.
Rich Rodriguez is still the third-winningest football coach in West Virginia University history, even after 17 years away from the Mountaineers.
West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez reacts after a fourth-quarter score against Georgia in the 2006 Sugar Bowl. Rodriguez was rehired at WVU following the firing of six-year head coach Neal Brown after the 2024 regular season.
AP file
However, nearly two decades later, the prodigal son is returning to his alma mater — per Action Network’s Brett McMurphy — after serving as a coach at three schools since departing Morgantown.
Jacksonville State & former West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez will return as WVU's coach, source told @ActionNetworkHQ. Rich Rod was 60-26 at WVU from 2001-07 w/6 bowl trips. WVU President Gordon Gee told me: "I think he would be well received by a large set of our populationâ€
Rodriguez becomes the first Mountaineer coach since William F. Kern to serve two separate terms as the WVU head coach. Kern coached from 1940-42 and from 1946-47.
Rodriguez, a former player for the Mountaineers, spent seven seasons as the coach of his alma mater, during which time WVU went 60-26. The Grant Town native left for Michigan after the 2007 regular-season finale and had never returned to coach in his home state.
Rodriguez replaces Neal Brown, who was fired Dec. 1. He has spent the past three seasons leading Jacksonville State, in Alabama. The Gamecocks, under Rodriguez’s watch, went 27-10 in three nine-win seasons. Jacksonville State claimed Conference USA supremacy on Friday by defeating Western Kentucky, 52-12, to improve to 9-4.
West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez watches from the sideline during an NCAA football game against Marshall on Saturday, Sept. 2, 2006, at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown.
Gazette-Mail file
Head coach beginnings
Rodriguez got his head coaching start at Salem University, where he spent one season and went 2-8.
Rich Rodriguez, Coal Bowl, Sept. 2, 2006, after the game.
Gazette-Mail file photo
Rodriguez’s record at WVU
Rodriguez’s best tenure as a head coach came when he led the Mountaineers from 2001-07. WVU won 11 games in 2005 and 2006, finishing with a victory over the Georgia Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl.
Marshall coach Mark Snyder, left, and West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez embrace following a college football game Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007, in Huntington, W.Va. West Virginia won 48-23.
JEFF GENTNER | Associated Press
His only losing season in Morgantown was his first season, after veteran coach Don Nehlen retired.
Rodriguez played three seasons for Nehlen as a defensive back in the 1980s. Rodriguez’s first Mountaineer team went 3-8 in 2001. The following season, WVU won nine games and earned a spot in the Continental Tire Bowl.
West Virginia’s best season under Rodriguez’s watch came in 2007, when the Mountaineers were ranked No. 2 in the nation with a spot in the BCS title game likely. However, a 13-9 home loss on Dec. 1 to the Pitt Panthers destroyed the Mountaineers’ national championship aspirations.
West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez (right) high-fives kicker Pat McAfee (40) after the Mountaineers beat Maryland 31-14 in a college football game, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007, in College Park, Md.
NICK WASS | Associated Press
Post-WVU career
Fifteen days later, Rodriguez informed the Mountaineers that he was leaving for the vacant position at Michigan. A day later, he was introduced as the Wolverines’ new head coach.
The West Virginia native’s tenure in Ann Arbor was short-lived. He coached Michigan for three seasons, during which time the Wolverines went 15-22.
The former Mountaineer was fired and moved into a brief analyst role with CBS Sports before he returned to coaching at Arizona in November 2011.
The longer the search went on, the higher it seemed Rich Rodriguez moved up the ladder. Now a top WVU official has confirmed Rodriguez will be the next coach. Source says WVU is the "target" but the deal should come together very quickly.
Rodriguez found the winning recipe again with the Wildcats, as his first four seasons with Arizona were winning ones, including a 10-4 season in 2014. He spent six seasons in Tucson before being fired in 2018 after a three-month internal investigation regarding his actions in the workplace.
Rodriguez went on to serve on the staffs at Ole Miss, Hawaii and Louisiana-Monroe before being tabbed the new head coach of Jacksonville State in 2021.
Overall, Rodriguez’s teams have gone 190-129-2, with six bowl victories.
West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez, center, talks with his players during the second half of a college football game against Mississippi State, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2007 in Morgantown, W.Va. West Virginia won, 38-13.
