West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez understands the assignment in Morgantown.
“I didn't get hired for nostalgia reasons. I got hired to win,” he said during the spring.
The veteran head coach has already proven that he can win in Morgantown before with a highly successful stint during his first tenure from 2001-07.
During that period, Rodriguez led the Mountaineers to a 60-26 record with two trips to BCS bowl games and three consecutive seasons of at least ten wins.
The program Rodriguez inherits now is looking to get back to that level of success. That made the marriage one that made sense for a lot of different reasons, considering that not only has Rodriguez done it before, but he has proven that he can win in today’s climate as well, given what he accomplished at Jacksonville State.
During his three years with the Gamecocks, Rodriguez led the program through the transition from FCS to FBS and amassed a 27-10 record, including winning the 2024 Conference USA Championship and being named Coach of the Year in the League. That showcases that Rodriguez understands how to navigate the current landscape with far less resources than he will inherit in Morgantown.
The program has been remade since Rodriguez arrived in December, with a total of 76 new players being added to the roster between the ones that he has brought in on top of the 12 incoming freshmen that were signed under the previous coaching staff. And with so much uncertainty, it’s fair to wonder the expectation level for West Virginia this coming season with so much unknown.
But Rodriguez wants to set the standard for his team.
“I guess I’ve gotten too old, at least to have coach-speak anymore,” Rodriguez said on the College GameDay podcast. “I’m just like, if we’re not playing in contention in November for the conference championship, then I think it’s not a good year.”
The Mountaineers haven’t been in contention for the Big 12 championship that late into the season since the 2018 campaign, when the program finished tied for third in the league. Over the past six seasons, West Virginia was 37-35 with a 25-28 record in the league. The highest finish was a tie for fourth in 2023.
But as Arizona State demonstrated, winning the Big 12 this past season in their inaugural season in the league after a 3-9 campaign in the first year under Kenny Dillingham in the Pac-12 quick turnarounds are possible.
“Now, can we do that in one year, not two years? That’s a harder ask to do, but certainly that will be our focus,” Rodriguez said.
Expectations are all over the board for West Virginia, given all of the change but Rodriguez knows that what he did in the 2000s doesn’t mean anything this time around and the focus is on winning football games as quickly as possible.
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