WVSports.com continues with our popular feature: The 3-2-1. We'll break down three things we learned that week, two questions we have and give one prediction.

Here is the next installment of the 3-2-1 looking at the West Virginia football program, the latest on basketball and what’s happening in recruiting.

3 things I learned:

1–Rodriguez returns. West Virginia's 36th head football coach also holds the distinction of being the 32nd as native son Rich Rodriguez will return as the head coach of the Mountaineers. It's a scenario that 17 years ago when Rodriguez initially left seemed almost impossible, but time can change a lot and in this instance, it brought one of the most successful coaches in program history home.

We can debate what unfolded with his initial departure, but you can't the sustained success that the program experienced when Rodriguez came to West Virginia in 2001 through the 2007 season. The Mountaineers were 60-26 over that span and finished ranked in four of those six seasons including three top 10 finishes.

The football program won at least eight games in every season but Rodriguez's first and won at least 10 games in each his final three years. It was a period with a lot of good memories, although not all of them, and the Mountaineers are hoping to recapture that.

Yes, that was almost two decades ago but Rodriguez has experienced recent success as well leading FBS upstart Jacksonville State through their transition and has won nine games in each of his three seasons with the program. That includes this past season where Rodriguez led the Gamecocks to a Conference USA Championship beating Western Kentucky 52-12 and was named Coach of the Year in the league.

There won't be any transition period here for Rodriguez in terms of learning the landscape. The Grant Town native was raised in West Virginia, played for the Mountaineers from 1981-84 and has already been the head coach. He understands the uniqueness of the school and how to have success in Morgantown.

Rodriguez also has his teams play with a toughness that embodies what the people of West Virginia want to see out of their football team. That matters and there will be no questions about the identity of what Rodriguez's teams will be built around moving forward with a hard edge that physically will get after opponents.

With this hire, expectations are that success will shortly follow and while that remains to be seen it's not hard to see why the administration elected to go in this direction. Rodriguez has a history of winning, understands the football program and the people and has the financial backing to make the Mountaineers competitive in the Big 12.

Rodriguez will have a five-year contract that will pay him a base of around $3.75 million and features incentives that are tied to success.

There have been plenty of redemption stories in college football, but perhaps none as wild as what will unfold with Rodriguez back on the sidelines in Morgantown.

2–First a bowl game. West Virginia has a new head coach and that is obviously going to dominate the headlines, especially with the direction that the search took in bringing back Rodriguez. But the remaining players and staff from the Neal Brown era first have to close out the 2024 season on the field in the Frisco Bowl against No. 25 Memphis.

The game is set for 9 p.m. Tuesday and will be televised by ESPN and fits the need that the football program wanted in an early bowl appearance.