MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — With Chad Scott now reportedly headed to becoming the next running backs coach for the Texas Longhorns, the West Virginia Mountaineers are left with a big hole in its coaching staff. Scott, 50, has been in Morgantown since 2019 when he came to WVU with former head coach Neal Brown, and he has been a big part of the program. The Mountaineers ranked in the top 10 among Power Four schools in rushing the last two seasons and Scott was interim head coach after the Mountaineers dismissed Neal Brown in the fall.
“I have an appreciation and respect for the job that Chad has done here at West Virginia,” head coach Rich Rodriguez said in December. when he decided to retain Scott on his staff. “He brings a high level of energy and has a history of building relationships and developing players. I look forward to having him as a member of our staff.”
However, with Scott now headed to Austin, Texas with the Texas Longhorns, Rodriguez will need to quickly replace him, and there are several outstanding candidates to take over as the program´s next running backs coach:
1. Noel Devine: Devine, who was hired by Rodriguez last month as an offensive analyst and assistant running backs coach, seems like a natural fit if his former head coach believes that he´s ready to take over the position.
“Noel knows how I run my program, and more importantly, he wants to give back to the place that has given him so much,” Rodriguez said last month. “He knows Mountaineer football, and he will be a great asset on the offensive side of the ball.”
Devine, 36, played at West Virginia from 2007-10 and rushed for 4,315 yards, which is 3rd-best in West Virginia history. He is also the program’s leader in career all-purpose yards with 5,671. Despite not having any major collegiate coaching experience up to this point, he´s one of West Virginia´s all-time best rushers and like Rodriguez recently said, he knows how Rodriguez runs his program and what is expected.
2. Pat White: Just last week, White was named the assistant quarterbacks coach/assistant to the head coach by Rich Rodriguez. ¨It’s really special to welcome Pat White back to Morgantown as a member of our football coaching staff,” Rodriguez said in a news release. “He has been involved in some of the biggest wins in program history, and he will be a great presence in our quarterback room. Pat and I have been through so much together, and I am really proud of the quality of coach and mentor to young players that he has become.”
During his illustrious Mountaineers career, White is the second-leading rusher in team history as a quarterback, finishing his WVU career with 4,480 yards on 684 rushing attempts. In addition, although he was a quarterback during his playing career, he also served as a running backs coach at South Florida back in 2020.
3. Steve Slaton: Rodriguez has made it clear that he wants to bring back former Mountaineers on his coaching staff, and Slaton is one of the very best to ever do it at West Virginia. Slaton, 39, has no collegiate coaching experience, but he did rush for 3,923 yards from 2005-2007 at West Virginia, and went on to play professionally for the Houston Texas (2008-2011), Miami Dolphins (2011) and Toronto Argonauts in the CFL (2014). Slaton would be an outside the box selection, but if he´s interested in starting his coaching career, there would be no better place than back home in West Virginia under his former head coach.
4. Rod McDowell: McDowell, who was the running backs under Rodriguez at Jacksonville State, was recently hired by Tony Gibson at Marshall. McDowell is a former Clemson running back, who had nearly 2,000 yards and 14 touchdowns for the Tigers under Dabo Swinney. Although he is currently on the Marshall staff, if Rodriguez wants him badly enough, he can certainly offer him more money and a better opportunity at West Virginia.
5. Owen Schmitt: Schmitt, another outside the box potential hire, played fullback for the Mountaineers from 2005-2007, and then played in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks (2008-2009), Philadelphia Eagles (2010-2011) and Oakland Raiders (2012). Over the last four years, Schimitt has served as a high school football assistant coach at Greenbrier West in West Virginia.
With #WVU running back’s coach Chad Scott leaving for Texas, here’s who I would replace him with:
1. Noel Devine
2. Pat White
3. Steve Slaton— The Voice of Morgantown (@voicemorgantown) February 20, 2025
