FILE - West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez talks to quarterback Nicco Marchiol during the first half an NCAA college football game against Robert Morris, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, in Morgantown, W.Va. (Ron Rittenhouse/The Dominion-Post via AP, File

The celebration by Pittsburgh in the adjacent visitor’s locker room pierced the somber mood at Rich Rodriguez’s postgame news conference in 2007 as West Virginia’s coach struggled to find the words for “our worst game offensively in years.”

That December night, the Mountaineers botched their chance to advance to the BCS championship game, ruined on their home field by the archrival and heavy underdog Panthers.

Two weeks later, Rodriguez was gone, taking the head coaching job at Michigan.

Now in his second stint with the Mountaineers (1-1), the

See Full Page