Rich Rodriguez has returned to Morgantown, and he has brought a lot of doubters along with him. Despite his previous 60-26 overall record with the Mountaineers, a lot of people are questioning if Rodriguez can find the same kind of success with West Virginia this time around.
Rodriguez is coming off a stint with Jacksonville State, an FCS program. Because of the “lower level” of football played at the FCS level versus the FBS level, people doubt that Rodriguez can replicate his success with the Mountaineers.
However, the WVU coach had some thoughts for those very doubters as he talked about earning the job with Josh Pate, a college football analyst for CBS Sports.
“You know, I played here and started my career here,” Rodriguez said before going into the start of his head coaching career at the NAIA and DII level. “I said, if this system is working at Division II level, it’ll work at a Division I level… It worked great here. That argument of ‘Ah, can you do it at a big school?’, I’ve coached in the SEC, I’ve coached in the Big Ten… We have a formula that knows how to win.”
Rich Rodriguez knows how to win football games He’s right, Rodriguez has won at all levels. From finding his footing as a head coach at Glenville State (WV), where he won four conference titles and played in two NAIA Division I Championships, to his seven combined bowl game victories between his time at WVU, Arizona, and Jacksonville State, Rodriguez knows how to win.
Yes, there have been times when Rodriguez has struggled to find consistency, like his three-year tenure with the Michigan Wolverines. However, as a head coach, Rodriguez has gone 190-129-2 overall, an impressive win rate of nearly 60 percent.
While at Jacksonville State, Rodriguez won nearly 73 percent of his games. Not to mention, the last time he was coaching the Mountaineers, West Virginia won 69.8 percent of its games and secured four conference titles, as well as three bowl game wins.
WVU fans can rest assured that their head coach can find success at the Power Conference level of college football because, at the end of the day, football is football, no matter what level you’re playing at.