Photo courtesy of WVU Athletics
Coach Rich Rodriguez makes his return to West Virginia, but much has changed since his departure in 2007.
Since his departure, West Virginia has gone through two nationwide conference realignments and has found their new home in the Big12 conference after leaving the Big East in 2012.
Rodriguez was asked about the differences between the two conferences and if he foresaw any challenges in the Big 12.
“Schematic-wise, or what have you, it’s not a whole lot different. It’s just a difference in, you know, the location. Some of the schools when you’re in the Big East, most schools you’re usually competing against them in recruiting and all that back then because everybody’s in the same region, and recruiting was different. Now everybody’s everywhere… because of the transfer portal, so that’s a little bit different.”
After he had left WVU, Rodriguez eventually found himself the head coach of Arizona, where he was at for six seasons from 2012-2018. The returning WVU head coach did mention how due to that time in the former Pac 12, he feels familiar with a lot of the new teams in the Big 12.
Over the past two seasons, the Big 12 conference has added Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, and Colorado from the Pac 12. Rodriguez also added he played BYU a couple of times while at Arizona as well.
While the two conferences feel very different, college football as a whole is what has changed the most from 2007 when Rodriguez was first at WVU until now. Navigating the always changing landscape of the sport is a nonnegotiable for any coach looking to find success in today’s college football world.
