West Virginia Athletic Director Wren Baker conducted a very thorough, exhaustive search to find the 36th head football coach for the Mountaineers.
It just so happened that the process led him to hire the man who had previously served as the 32nd in Rich Rodriguez.
Baker made it clear that once he had elected to move on from previous head coach Neal Brown on Dec. 1, there was tremendous interest from all over the country in the position. With the help of the search firm Parker Execute Search, Baker and those close to him vetted dozens of potential candidates.
That list was whittled down into over 15 initial interviews and narrowed down even further into a smaller pool that would go on to participate in the in-person interview process.
“Candidates wanted this job because of our history, our tradition, our resources but time and time again we heard it was because of you – the passionate fans of West Virginia,” Baker said.
The Mountaineers set out to find a candidate who understood and embraced the values of West Virginia and possessed traits that resonated with the people such as a strong work ethic, passion and grit. Of course, there has to be a commitment to developing championship programs on the field as well as leaders away from it while also demonstrating the ability to navigate the ever-changing college landscape.
And one candidate stood out above all others in Rodriguez.
“One of our own is returning home,” Baker said.
The veteran head coach has coached and won at all different levels of college football and has been known over the years for both his innovation with the spread offense as well as his adaptability. One question that Baker would ask each candidate during the search was if they had ever been to Morgantown.
“Many of them said I was there about 20 years ago to learn something from Rich Rod about offense. I was like, you read the newspapers, right? He’s involved in this search,” Baker said.
Rodriguez, a Grant Town native, has not only won in college football – he has already proven that he can do it at West Virginia with a 60-26 record during his time atop the program from 2001-07.
Of course, the exit that Rodriguez had from Morgantown was certainly a discussion item and Baker was confident after a process that involved a lot of different lines of communication with not only him but those around him, worked for him or even against him in the past.
This was the 25th search that Baker has led when finding a college coach and admitted that he made more calls during this one than any prior.
“One of the greatest things about life is we get to learn from our mistakes and Coach Rodriguez was quick to articulate and acknowledge he had made some, but he was sincere and genuine in owning those mistakes and subsequent lessons he learned from them. I know he’s eager to return home and prove it,” Baker said.
And ultimately his work led him to offer the job to Rodriguez.
“West Virginians love to see West Virginians do well. And West Virginians love to see this program do well and represent this state. And when I sat with him no other candidate had the kind of passion for this state, this community, this university and this football program the way that he did. It’s very personal and I’m excited that he’s here,” Baker said.
“And I have some advice for some of our competitors. You might want to put a little extra tape on. You might want to lace those shoes up a little tighter. Maybe put just a little more air in that helmet because West Virginia is getting ready to hold the rope, spot the ball and be West Virginia football,” Baker added.
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