According to college football insider Pete Thamel, Rich Rodriguez is set to be the next head coach of West Virginia, but a deal is not yet finalized.
Rodriguez, 61, was formerly the head coach of WVU from 2001-2007. Rodriguez left the Mountaineers for Michigan after nearly making the BCS National Championship in 2007.
After three disappointing seasons in Ann Arbor, where he had a 15-22 record, Rodriguez was let go. He took off a year from coaching and was then hired by Arizona.
Rodriguez spent six years at Arizona where he went 43-35. Arizona fired Rodriguez after conducting an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment.
After another year off from coaching, Rodriguez was hired by Ole Miss as an offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach in 2019, an analyst for Hawaii in 2020 and an associate head coach/coordinator/quarterbacks at Louisiana Monroe in 2021 before taking the head coaching job at Jacksonville State.
Rodriguez and Jax State finished 8-4 in the 2024 regular season, all eight wins in a row, making the Conference USA Championship. In the Conference USA Championship, Jacksonville State dominated Western Kentucky, defeating them 52-12.
West Virginia has been without a head coach since Dec. 1, after letting Neal Brown go after six years and a 37-35 record. Rodriguez’s hire makes him the fourth Mountaineer coach to have separate tenures.
Rodriguez a native of Grant Town, West Virginia, walked on to play defensive back at WVU in 1981 and was a three-year letter winner. Currently, Rodriguez ranks third all-time in wins for a head coach in West Virginia football history with 60 wins, one win behind Dana Holgorsen.
