Rich Rodriguez Returns to Coach West Virginia in 2025

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00:00Rich Rod, taking those country roads back home to West Virginia and Morgantown.

00:09Rich Rod Riguez, after two highly successful years at Jacksonville State,

00:13Leezy Guy is back as the head man for the Mountaineers, the native of West

00:19Virginia, who played college football at WVU, who led the Mountaineers to the

00:23most successful run in the last two and a half decades from 01 to 07, is

00:29now back as the head coach of West Virginia. Will he see success once again

00:34starting in 2025? I think he will, and again, Neil Brown was always on the hot

00:38seat, saved his job last year in terms of that nine-win season, and then

00:42regressed, and it started with week one to the loss to Penn State, but when you

00:46look at the conference as a whole, Big 12 competitive and still an

00:49offensive-minded type of conference, Rich Rod should hit the ground running. They

00:53averaged 36 points per game. They were a run-heavy offense, averaging well over

00:58260 yards per game, threw it for about a buck 77. I think he can have success in

01:04West Virginia, especially going back home. Now, is it Pat White, Steve Slayton's

01:08success? I don't know in year one, but again, it's definitely a good fit, much

01:13better than an upgrade, Kev, from where Neil Brown had that program.

01:17I find it odd, like he is well removed from this program. His time

01:24away was odd. Michigan, Arizona, I mean he's coming from Jacksonville State. Is he

01:32the, like how much of him getting this job is what he did at Jacksonville State

01:36and then being like, they'd probably be excited if we brought Rich Rod back, like

01:40you know what I mean? Like a Mac Brown type of situation, even though Mac

01:43won a national championship with Texas. A couple of things. When he leaves West

01:47Virginia in 2007, there was a legal battle about his buyout that kind of

01:51clouded the big stage of going to Michigan. Didn't really work there, goes

01:55to Tucson. Had some success at Arizona, ultimately flounders out, takes a few

02:00years away from being a head coach, goes to Jacksonville State, invests and puts

02:05in that Rich Rod system that led to success. Second best rushing offense in

02:11the country this year, where the Gamecocks and the Champions of

02:13Conference USA. I think there is that nostalgia, but it's a guy that

02:18understands the football program going back. And again, final three years at West

02:23Virginia, double-digit wins. Each of those three, of course, you know what happened

02:28at the end of 2007, when they could have played in the BCS National

02:32Championship game, enter the craziness of the backyard brawl. Another head coach

02:36going back to where he started, Scott Frost, not as the native of Wood River,

02:42Nebraska, but of course as a very successful head coach, two years in

02:46Orlando, he heads back to UCF. Barry Odom, after two successful seasons in Sin City,

02:52two consecutive Mountain West title game appearances, now the next head coach in

02:56West Lafayette for Purdue. So taking over in Las Vegas, that's Dan Mullen, Lacey Guy

03:01for UNLV. Yeah, I think when you look at Scott Frost and Dan Mullen, you know,

03:05second time could be a charm. Obviously Scott Frost built that program at UCF,

03:09got it to a pinnacle and Gus Malzahn ran it, you know, quite frankly, right into

03:14the ground for Dan Mullen, a great offensive mind, not that good in terms

03:18of the defensive side of the ball during his tenure with Miss State in his days

03:21with Florida, but again, you know, Barry Odom had that offense humming, one of the

03:25best rush offenses in all of college football. I do believe Barry Odom does

03:30take and elevate at least Purdue to being more competitive within the Big

03:35Ten, maybe not so much offensively, I think defensively is where he can make

03:39some headway. How much do we think Dan Mullen's getting? Because I believe the

03:45reported numbers for Odom are 6 for 39. Yeah. You don't think UNLV came to that

03:49for Mullen? Because UNLV is much closer to making a playoff than Purdue is.

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