The West Virginia Mountaineers have hired Rich Rodriguez as head coach for his second stint in Morgantown.
Rodriguez played his college ball at West Virginia from 1981-1984 and took over as the Mountaineers head coach in 2001. In his seven seasons with WVU, he led them to three straight 11-win seasons before leaving for the Michigan job.
Rodriguez is now back at West Virginia and is making it clear that he is there to turn the program around.
Rich Rodriguez Is Only Focused on Winning
In his introductory press conference, Rich Rodriguez set the record straight on why he is back in Morgantown.
Rich Rodriguez: “I didn’t get hired for nostalgia reasons. You know what I mean? I got hired to win” pic.twitter.com/dEkp20s6Ze
— Joe Brocato (@joebrowvm) February 20, 2025
While Rodriguez made it clear that he doesn’t want to talk about the old days, West Virginia fans must be thinking about the success that he brought to the program from 2001-07.
Rodriguez is historically a good coach with a 136-92 record as a head coach. As previously mentioned, he won 11 games with the Mountaineers in three straight seasons, but has also been successful in recent years.
Rodriguez was hired by the Jacksonville State Gamecocks in 2022. In 2023 they made the jump from FCS to FBS and joined Conference USA. In two seasons as an FBS program, Rodriguez led the Gamecocks to a 13-3 record in Conference USA, winning the conference in 2024.
If Rodriguez can bring similar success to West Virginia as it seems he plans to, watch out for the Mountaineers to make some noise in the Big 12 in the coming years.
KEEP READING: ‘Until I Threw Up’ – Rich Rodriguez Indicates His Feelings On West Virginia’s 2024 Season
So while Rodriguez might not want to talk about the old days, if his history is any sign of things to come, West Virginia may become a top-tier college football program once again.
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