MORGANTOWN- They say you can’t go backwards or go home again.
Whoever “they” are, have lied.
On Wednesday night, Dec. 11, reports began to surface that Jacksonville state head coach Rich Rodriguez was finalizing a deal to return to Morgantown and take the reins of the West Virginia Mountaineers football team. It became official on Thursday morning.
Rich Rod was 60-26 during his first seven seasons from 2001-2007 and had arguably the greatest three-year run in the program’s history (2005-07). He made players like Pat White, Steve Slaton, Owen Schmitt, Darius Reynaud, and others national household names in the college football world. He led the team to wins in the Sugar Bowl over Georgia and the Gator Bowl over Georgia Tech.
In his final season in 2007, Rodriguez had the Mountaineers ranked number 2 in the country needing only a season finale victory over Pitt to clinch a berth in the national championship game.
However, that is when things took a turn for the worst.
The Mountaineers lost to the Panthers 13-9 and looked terrible all night. Fans were left in the stands wondering what the heck just happened.
Soon after, Rodriguez snuck out of Morgantown overnight, signed a contract with Michigan and burned many bridges on his way out. He sued the school and uttered the phrase that people still cannot get past, “West Virginia isn’t that …. special.” His players then went on and beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl a few weeks later.
Yes, I get the disdain for the coach. When he was at Michigan, I cheered for them to go 0-12 every single year. Turns out, he was not a whole lot better than that and went 15-22 in three seasons with the Wolverines.
And that is where my disdain stopped.
Rodriguez knew right then that karma had hit him. It was public knowledge that those close to Rodriguez mentioned that he regretted leaving WVU. He wished he would have done things differently and he hoped at some point in his career, he would have a chance to make it right and be forgiven.
That chance is now.
Fans are mixed on the return of the Prodigal son. Some fans still have that hatred towards him not because that he left the first time, but how he did it and what he said on the way out the door. However, other fans, me included, got over it long ago. He got his payback and his ‘ha-ha we told you so’ moment when he failed at Michigan. That was it. That was all I wanted him to do, and he did. He failed there and it occurred to him that he made a huge mistake. To the WVU fans who say they are no longer cheering for the Mountaineers, there are many that did not like Neal Brown the last six years but cheered for West Virginia every single week. The school and team will always be bigger than one individual and this time it’s no different.
This season, Rodriguez led his Jacksonville State team to the Conference USA championship with 60-plus new players on the roster from the season before. He was named Conference USA coach of the year and a couple national pundits said that this year was Rich’s best coaching job in his career, including those good years with the Mountaineers.
But even then, some fans say his spread offense does not work anymore, that WVU is in the Big 12 now, not the Big East or Conference USA. To those, I point out what I consider the most important argument:
In 2019, Rod was the offensive coordinator for the Ole Miss Rebels in the SEC. The mighty SEC. The conference that is far superior to everyone including the NFL. A little sarcasm there, but you get the point. Anyway, that season, Rodriguez led an offense that averaged 445 yards per game. Against LSU that year–the national champion undefeated LSU–Rich Rod’s offense gained 614 yards including 402 on the ground. His quarterback ran for over 200. Again, that was against arguably the best team in college football history. That LSU team had 26 NFL players on its roster and Rodriguez’s offense ran and threw all over them.
Everyone deserves a second chance, and this is Rodriguez’s second and final one. Although his contract numbers have not been released, it is rumored that he has no buyout, or at least a very small one, so if he does not succeed this time, he can be let go and it will not cost WVU any more than a pack of gum and a handheld calculator.
It is times like now that hopefully the fans can unite together. There’s 8 and-a-half months before the 2025 kickoff to gather your emotions and decide to start cheering for Rich Rod’s second term. West Virginia is going to get back to winning and they are going to start quickly.
Buckle up.
