Rich Rodriguez Opens Up About Pressure Surrounding His Nostalgic Return to West Virginia

While some fans are still enjoying the nostalgic nature of having Rich Rodriguez back in Morgantown, WVU’s head coach has been busy trying to get the program back to national prominence. Rodriguez knows building West Virginia back up from one of the worst six-year stretches of Mountaineer football ever won’t be easy, but he’s up for the challenge.

In a conversation with ESPN’s Harry Lyles Jr., Rodriguez talked about the nostalgia of his return, his mindset coaching in this era of college football and the pressure to win right away.

“It’s kind of natural to have some nostalgia about when we were here the first time, and some of the success we had probably a part in me getting back here the second time,” said Rodriguez.

But despite the magnitude of his past success, Rodriguez also understands that was a long time ago and within a completely different structure of the sport. Rodriguez knows he was hired to win and because he recently proved he still can win, not just for nostalgia or any sentimental reasons.

Even though he did enjoy some success with Arizona from 2012-17, Rodriguez feels he wouldn’t be back at WVU with a chance at redemption if not for making Jacksonville State into a winning program, culminating in a conference championship last season before his departure.

Asti: Winning Only Option for Rich Rodriguez in Second WVU Tenure

“But I like to think the main reason we were able to get this opportunity is because of what we did the last few years at Jack State. Because if we lost at Jack State, I would have never got called, right?”

Still some question if Rodriguez’s “hard edge” act will translate to the Power Four level again. And while he knows players today are different from generations of the past, Rodriguez, now 61, believes he’s a much better coach today than he was when he was roaming the sidelines of Milan Puskar Stadium in his mid to late 30s.

“I’ve had old-school coaches, where they were on you all the time and that’s all you ever saw,” he said. “They never saw the other side. I call it flipping the switch. It’s a different person out there in those lines than there is right here. It’s not purposeful, I’ve just always been that way.”

WVSN photo by Kelsie LeRose

Rodriguez is still a college football sicko and obsessed with doing everything humanly possible to win at a high level. That’s why he demands so much from his players, and will continue to do so no matter how different they might be from the personalities he coached decades ago.

“I know it sounds like coachspeak, but the next play is my entire world. You know, maybe I’m sick. … But when we’re doing practice, that very next play is the most important thing in the world to me. And maybe I’m psycho for thinking that way.”

Since taking over in December, Rodriguez has been leading a complete overhaul. He added players in the winter portal, evaluated his roster, cut it down and then added new players throughout the spring. His roster is nowhere close to being set for the fall and winning in year one at any job isn’t easy, but he knows he can’t endure 3-8 type of first season like he did back in 2001.

He even continuously echoed his “win now” requirement while talking to the media during the spring practice period. “We’re going to do all we can to win right now.”

Rodriguez, a West Virginia native, currently holds a 190-128-2 overall coaching record. He experienced most of his success while leading the Mountaineers from 2001-2007. At WVU, Rodriguez won four Big East titles and was named conference Coach of the Year twice. He added a third Coach of the Year honor in the Pac-12 in 2014 with Arizona.

Find more coverage of Rich Rodriguez at WV Sports Now.