Rich Rodriguez explains decision to hire former players, children to West Virginia coaching staff

The West Virginia Mountaineers are hoping that Rich Rodriguez can recapture the magic of his first tenure running the program. Certainly, this second tenure has several notable faces from that first run of success on the staff now, along with several family members now on the coaching staff.

Former quarterback Pat White is now an assistant quarterbacks coach and assistant to the head coach. Running back Noel Devine is an offensive analyst and running backs coach. Then, quarterback Rasheed Marshall is the team’s director of player relations. Those are positions that Rich Rodriguez explained on the College GameDay Podcast that they earned and will help the Mountaineers win again.

“With Pat and Rasheed and Noel, I’m not hiring you because of what you did in the 2000s,” Rich Rodriguez said. “I’m hiring you because you can help me win now. The fact is they do have a certain amount of respect, I think, from the guys because people know who they are, players know who they are, recruits know who they are, but also their innate competitiveness, their work ethic, and all that was one of the things that was maybe overlooked to their success. I think our current players can see that and recruits can see that now as well.”

Since leaving West Virginia, White had a brief professional career before getting into coaching in 2018. Through multiple college stops and a brief NFL stint, he’s built up a respectable resume. In Devine and Marshall’s cases, these are their first college coaching jobs. Marshall has held that role since 2023 under previous head coach Neal Brown.

At quarterbacks coach, Rhett Rodriguez, the son of Rich Rodriguez, is set to take over. He previously coached for his father at Jacksonville State and has proven to provide an approach that his father likes having on the team.

“With Rhett, it’s kind of unique because he started off in the financial world. Then, a few years ago, I said, ‘You want to do that or you want to be coaching?’ He said, ‘I think I want to coach.’ But he’s a perfect fit for me because I’m a little loud and out there. He’s the exact opposite. He’s calmer, milder. If I was on the headset, talking to the quarterbacks, I would never get nothing accomplished. I’d be yelling at them, and they’d be yelling back at me, and Rhett’s like, ‘Okay, this is the play. Look for this coverage.’ He’s nice and calm. So, it’s a perfect kind of situation where he can offset some of my ranting and raving.”

Even Rich Rodriguez’s daughter Raquel Rodriguez has a role on the West Virginia staff. She’ll be the Assistant Athletics Director/Football Management and Strategy. Again, it’s a position that Rich Rodriguez feels was earned.

“Then, Raquel, it’s nice having family because they’ve grown up in this. So they’ve been a part of a football program almost their entire life. So, they could kind of almost finish my sentences. It’s like Raquel, she probably wouldn’t admit it, but if I told her, ‘Hey, Raquel, coach these three routes for the receivers,’ she could probably do that. ‘Raquel, they’re running this defense and they’re running a bear front?’ She says, ‘Well, these are the only two plays that are gonna work.’ So, she’s been there and done that herself.”

Rich Rodriguez found plenty of success in his first tenure at West Virginia. The Mountaineers went 60-26 from 2001 through 2007. That stretch included four conference championships. Now, the program is looking to do what it can to replicate that success.