Rich Rodriguez recalls 'nasty talks and threats' from when he left West Virginia

When former West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez left the program in 2008 to take the head coaching job at Michigan, he made some enemies. More than a few, really.

The Mountaineers fanbase was irate that he’d leave after building the program up to some remarkable heights. Now, about a decade and a half later, Rodriguez can reflect on what leaving the program was like.

“Yeah, if you think back about it, I mean there was a lot of nasty talks and threats and family got threats,” Rich Rodriguez said in an interview on the College GameDay Podcast. “It didn’t surprise me. At least they’ve got passion, right?”

He didn’t hold that against the West Virginia fans. And a good thing, too, for the Mountaineers, who have now gone back to the well in search of that success Rodriguez once produced.

Still, there were some ruffled feathers on both sides. Rich Rodriguez explained.

“The things that had bothered me were the things that came out that weren’t true or factual,” Rodriguez said. “I should have addressed it. I should have had a press conference or something, I think. Again, this is my opinion. I should have had a press conference explaining this is why I’m leaving. These are the concerns I have or this is the opportunity that we’re looking at.

“I just kind of wanted to move on and Michigan had told me to move on.”

So Rich Rodriguez let things be and simply moved on. His stint at Michigan, of course, would not prove very successful and he was out after just three years. It took some time to rebuild his career profile.

But there have been lessons in that. The returning West Virginia head man broke them down.

“I don’t think about it a lot, but I still have to think about it occasionally to learn from it,” Rich Rodriguez said. “This is it now for me. I’m not going to leave this opportunity. But I think I had to learn a lot from that experience, and I think I did learn a lot, not only from a personal standpoint but what this program had meant to the state of West Virginia. I’m like maybe the madder they were, the more upset they were, was because we were having success and we were so close to getting it done. And we were. We were close to getting it done.

“So maybe that passion was a good thing, not looking at it from a negative standpoint. At least I try to look at it from this view now. But the people have been real nice.”