Rich Rodriguez emphasizes the importance of his climb back to West Virginia

Rich Rodriguez felt the importance of returning to West Virginia as the head coach of the football program. At one point, he was content to finish his career at Jacksonville State.

Rodriguez has seen it all from WVU to Michigan, Arizona and Jacksonville State to name a few. But all roads led him back to the Mountaineers in 2025.

Rodriguez tried to make a home wherever he was. Learning lessons along the way, he plans to bring that back to West Virginia.

“I’ve been all over the country, so to speak,” Rodriguez said on the College GameDay Podcast. “You know, I still have my house in Tucson … And I think I’ve tried to learn from each one of those stops, and we’ve had great relationships, you know? Everywhere we’ve been, you know, so that, I think that’s been kind of the neat part about that’s all the part about coming back that, you know, we haven’t just been in this one little place. We certainly have always had West Virginia as our home, but we felt like, as any coach would tell you, you try to make your home wherever you’re at, and we tried to do that.” 

Rodriguez went 27-10 in three seasons at Jacksonville State, winning the ASUN in 2022 and Conference USA in 2024. The trajectory was evident but it ultimately led him back to a place where he belongs. Or something like that!

“And I love our time at (Jacksonville) State,” Rodriguez said. “I would have been perfectly happy if we stayed at Jax State the rest of my career, and I finished it off there, six, seven, eight years, I’d have been perfectly happy as long as we were winning, right? And we were winning, and they’re great people there. 

“But this was different. It was almost an opportunity to maybe try to get a place where you could win it all, (go) to a place that’s home for us and the people that we love. So, yeah, there’s no question it’s been an interesting journey, but I am very grateful for the opportunity, come back.”

During Rodriguez’s initial run at West Virginia (2001-07), he went 60-26 and won four Big East titles. In 2005, Rodriguez led the Mountaineers to an 11-1 record and a win in the Sugar Bowl, finishing No. 5 in the final AP Poll. Now, it’s on him to recapture the magic in 2025 and in the seasons to come.