What’s old is now new again as West Virginia is targeting Rich Rodriguez as the 36th head coach of the football program.
Pete Thamel of ESPN first reported the news and that a deal was in the process of being finalized. WVSports.com has confirmed it.
Rodriguez, 61, would make his return to Morgantown after previously serving as the head coach of the Mountaineers from 2001-07. One of the architects of the spread offense, Rodriguez led the Mountaineers to three consecutive 10-win seasons from 2005-07 and Big East Championships over that span.
Rodriguez was twice named the Big East Coach of the Year in 2003 and 2005, while his teams won or shared a total of four conference titles during his time in Morgantown.
The West Virginia native and alumnus, was 60-26 during his time atop the West Virginia program before leaving for Michigan and then serving as the head coach at Arizona.
Rodriguez was just 15-22 in three seasons with the Wolverines but found success in Tucson.
During his time with the Wildcats, the Grant Town native was 43-35 in six seasons including a ten win campaign in 2014. He would then serve on the coaching staffs at Mississippi and Louisiana-Monroe.
Rodriguez most recently served as the head coach at Jacksonville State and led the Gamecocks football program through the transition to FBS and won two conference titles in the process including a dominating 52-12 win over Western Kentucky in the Conference USA Championship Game.
Rodriguez led the Gamecocks to a 9-4 season and a 26-10 record during his time atop the program and earned Conference USA Coach of the Year Honors in 2024.
Prior to his time in Morgantown, Rodriguez played safety for the Mountaineers from 1981-84 and got his coaching start with the Mountaineers as a student assistant. From there, Rodriguez would serve as the defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator at Salem before being promoted to the head coach.
Rodriguez would then return to Morgantown as the outside linebackers coach for a season before being hired as the head coach at Glenville State from 1990-96. He led the Pioneers to 43-28 record and after starting 1-7-1 in his first season, tied for first in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in each of his last four years with the program including a 10 win season in 1993 where the program lost in the NAIA Championship.
The veteran coach was then hired by Tommy Bowden to be the offensive coordinator at Tulane and then followed Bowen to Clemson where he held the same position from 1999-2000 before being given the head coaching job in Morgantown in 2001.
The reunion brings Rodriguez back to his roots in a familiar spot leading the West Virginia Mountaineers football program.
WVSports.com will have more on Rodriguez in the near future.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @wesleyshoe
