MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — During the offseason of college sports, bold predictions for the upcoming season are very common. Journalists often predict how athletes will perform and how many wins teams will have during the season.
Jim Weber, a formerly of LostLetterman.com, made the following bold prediction on social media last night: “After leading Jacksonville State to a successful FBS debut while Neal Brown face plants at West Virginia, WVU will rehire Rich Rodriguez by the end of the year.”
What's your boldest college football prediction for 2023? 🔥
Mine: After leading Jacksonville St. to a successful FBS debut while Neal Brown face plants at West Virginia, WVU will rehire Rich Rodriguez by the end of the year.
Here's a Photoshop of what RichRod would look like: pic.twitter.com/PEBzeYmvar
— Jim Weber (@JimMWeber) July 25, 2023
In his first season at Jacksonville State last year, Rodriguez put together an impressive 9-2 record and he is 172-121-2 overall during his over-20 year career as a college football head coach. At West Virginia, Rodriguez was 60-26 overall and the Mountaineers finished 11-1, 11-2 and 10-2 in his final 3 seasons with the team before leaving to take the head coaching job at Michigan.
West Virginia is predicted to finish in last place in the Big 12 Conference this season and Neal Brown’s seat is already very hot entering the year. If the Mountaineers lose to Pen State, as expected, and also fall to Pitt in Week 3 at home, then his seat will get even hotter and it’s very possible that a coaching change could be made mid-season. If that’s the case, could West Virginia look to its past to fix its future? Although Rich Rodriguez would be an extremely divisive candidate, there is a large portion of the fanbase that longs for the Rich Rod days and would likely welcome him back in Morgantown.
