Rich Rodriguez is heading again to West Virginia.
According to ESPNThe Mountaineers introduced Thursday that that they had re-hired Rodriguez 17 years after he left for Michigan. The Jacksonville State coach will succeed Neal Brown after Brown was fired on the finish of the season.
“We are thrilled to welcome Coach Rich Rodriguez and his household again dwelling,” WVU athletic director Wren Baker mentioned in an announcement. “Coach Rodriguez understands what it takes to win at West Virginia, and I imagine he’ll pour his coronary heart, soul and each ounce of his power into our program. I’m satisfied Coach Rodriguez desires what’s greatest for West Virginia, WVU and West Virginia soccer, and I’m enthusiastic about the way forward for our program.”
Rodriguez was West Virginia’s coach from 2001 by means of 2007. The Mountaineers had been 60-26 in his time with the varsity and received 32 video games over his ultimate three seasons in Morgantown.
That stretch of soccer was outlined by Rodriguez’s spread-option offense and groups throughout school soccer rushed to repeat it. West Virginia scored practically 40 factors per sport in 2007 and had been in line to make the BCS title sport with a win over Pitt within the ultimate week of essentially the most chaotic season in trendy school soccer historical past. Instead, WVU misplaced 13-9 at dwelling to the rival Panthers and fell from No. 2 to No. 11.
Rodriguez’s success at West Virginia acquired him the pinnacle teaching job at Michigan, succeeding Lloyd Carr. His time with the Wolverines didn’t go as properly. Michigan was 15-22 in Rodriguez’s three seasons with the varsity and he was fired after a 7-6 season in 2010. Before going 3-9 in Rodriguez’s first season in 2008, Michigan hadn’t missed a bowl sport since 1974 and had the longest lively bowl streak within the nation.
Rodriguez spent the 2011 season out of teaching earlier than heading to Arizona in 2012. The Wildcats received 26 video games over his first three seasons and made the Fiesta Bowl on the finish of the 2014 season. But the Wildcats by no means received greater than seven video games in a season after that. Rodriguez was fired on the finish of the 2017 season following an investigation by the varsity after his former administrative assistant filed a lawsuit accusing him of sexual harassment. The go well with was ultimately dismissed in 2019.
After three years as an assistant at three completely different faculties, Rodriguez grew to become the pinnacle coach at Jacksonville State in 2022 because the Gamecocks moved as much as the highest stage of school soccer in 2023. The Gamecocks have gone 9-4 in every of the previous two seasons and received the Conference USA championship sport over Western Kentucky on Friday.
The Mountaineers, in the meantime, have desperately been looking out to get again to the sustained success the varsity had within the 2000s. Bill Stewart went 9-4 for 3 straight seasons after succeeding Rodriguez and Dana Holgorsen was 10-3 in his first season in 2011. Since then, WVU has received 10 video games simply as soon as (2016) and was 37-35 in Brown’s six seasons.
