MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — After Neal Brown was fired as the head coach of the Mountaineers after another disappointing season, Rich Rodriguez was hired as the program’s next head coach, and by most accounts, this was a grand slam hire for Wren Baker and West Virginia University.
According to CBS Sports, Rodriguez is the very best head coaching hire in the entire nation this offseason. In his article “2025 College Football Coaching Carousel Grades: Rich Rodriguez’s Return to West Virginia Earns Perfect Mark”, long-time CBS Sports journalist Dennis Dodd gave rave reviews to the Mountaineers for hiring Rodriguez.
Here’s what Dodd had to say about Rodriguez returning to West Virginia: “You can go home again! One of the grandfathers of the zone read spread returns to his alma mater and a place he coached from 2001-2007. Rodriguez will bring a sense of nostalgia and possibility to a program that is dying for a sniff of the old days. Rodriguez, 61, is literally the embodiment of those old days.”
Dodd graded this hire as an A+, which was the highest grade he gave to any head coaching hire of this offseason, putting Rodriguez above Barry Odom to Purdue (A), Bill Belichick to North Carolina (A-), Scott Frost to UCF (B+), Jake Dickert (B+), Dan Mullen to UNLV (B), Charles Huff to Southern Miss (B) and Tony Gibson to Marshall (C+).
Rodriguez has brought back a level of excitement to the program that hasn’t been seen in Morgantown in almost a decade, and with virtually an entirely new roster, there is renewed optimism in the Mountaineers’ chances of competing for a Big 12 Championship this season.
