He went 6-18 in conference at Michigan (was kinda sabotaged) and 24-30 in conference at Arizona. Not sure how anyone says he has won at every level except for FCS play. His coaching tenure is all over the place but he was great at WVU in the past
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I'll give you he was a bust at Michigan, but his players turned him in to the NCAA for working them to hard. I mean, it was a bad fit.
look at the wins he had at arz. and what they did before he got there. he beat numerous AP top 10 teams there, USC, Oregon, Oklahoma State. He played for a pac 12 title, and his 10 wins was the most in 3 decades there.
The previous coach, a stoops, said it was impossible to win there bc arz wouldnt commit the resources. He didnt win national titles at zona, but he exceeded expectations. He excelled as an off coor at Ole miss. He won a lower level title at jacksonville state before they transitioned and then won CUSA title with a team that had the least resources in the league.
but, at the end of the day, ill favor ken kendrick's opionion(he owns a professional sports franchise and josh pate's over most posters. In the case of kendrick, he put his money where his mouth was.
The jack state news beat reporter said rrod has an eye for talent and patched together a team with div 2 players that led CUSA in rushing.
Your constant need for affirmation on this hire says otherwise.
You know it’s a tepid resume when resorting to listing individual wins for a 61 year old coach.
A crapshoot hire, but as good of hire as a program like WVU could hope for imo. This ain’t the Big East. It’s an uphill battle for WVU, but Rodriquez is a competent coach. Should keep them out of the basement of the conference
100% agree on going with what Kendrick wants. If a billionaire donor wants to support the program to that degree and being in his 80’s wants to see some results you let him have his way. Being the diamond backs owner will be huge for the baseball team as well.
I don’t know if RR is the answer but if you can get the NIL money to bring in some top talent there is no reason you can’t jump to the top of the Big12 with how the rest of the conferences recruiting is.
Wild that WVU and BYU might be leading the NIL in the conference, very different schools obviously
FB25 Renewal Deadline 4.1.25 - West Virginia University Athletics - Official Athletics Website
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No idea if RROD 2.0 will work or not, but citing Pate as proof of a good hire isn't particularly meaningful. I like the guy's show well enough, but he's built his fanbase by sunshine pumping nearly every program at different points. The positivity can be a nice change of pace (hence why I often tune in), but nobody should ever get too excited when he says nice things about your team.
The fact is WVU didnt have the cash to land a proven p5 coach. Kendrick promised big $ if and only if RROD was hired. Sure, WVU could have hired an up and coming coor with no head coaching experience, but he would have had a similar roster as neal brown.
RROD was promised a "blank check" to hire a defensive coor. He was also promised NIL dollars on top of fully funding the house settlement that puts WVU in the top third of football, and in the top 4 in the big 12.
Im not sure all big 12 schools will be able to fund the house settlement, and those that cant are going to take significant hits to their recruiting.
RROD, love him or hate him, is at least a better x and o coach than the 3 guys they had since he left in 2007. Is he as good as gundy, aranda, matt C. and others in the big 12? Maybe with better talent he doesnt have to be, I mean Coach O won a natty at lsu and he isnt exactly a rocket scientist.
Here's a tidbit. Oklahoma State and arizona played 3 years in a row. The 1st 2 games, with stoops as coach, the Cowboys won easily. In his first year as coach, in 2012, RROD sent a message:
In 2012, the Arizona Wildcats and Oklahoma State Cowboys faced off once again on September 8, 2012. This time, Arizona pulled off a stunning upset, defeating the No1. 18-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys with a score of 59-38.
Quarterback Matt Scott threw for 320 yards and two touchdowns, while running back Ka'Deem Carey scored four touchdowns. It was a signature win for the Wildcats under Coach Rich Rodriguez and marked a significant moment in the team's turnaround
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My guy, I never disparaged the hire at all. Simply pointed out you used a lot of words citing Pate as proof it's a good choice when that's a pretty poor source for this sort of thing.
You're kind of proving @FinalFourCy's point about seeking affirmation on the topic.
I’m not surprised he stepped down. They were the little engine that could that keeps getting crushed by the portal
We'll see how Rich Rod 2.0 pans out. I'm not sold that coaching sequels are a guarantee of success.
They'll be better than they were under Brown, but the top 5 teams from the Big East days are a taller order.
That said, I can't blame WV fans for being excited.
They'll be better than they were under Brown, but the top 5 teams from the Big East days are a taller order.
That said, I can't blame WV fans for being excited.
Rich Rod is a good coach but a few things.
Arizona literally had been competing at a national level in football in my life time. Yes, it had been a while. **** Tomey went 95-64 through the year 2000. So while RR did a good job there, its not exactly impossible to win. Stoops just sucked.
Second, Jacksonville State has D2 players? Really? Hmm... OK. So, why were they were dominating the FCS level for years with D2 players? Did Liberty have D2 players when they won when they made the jump?
My point is this. Anyone can cherry pick who they want to believe and promote as the story.
He's a good coach.
He had a really good tenure there.
He's had very average success to below average at high levels anywhere not named West Virginia.
Maybe he can recreate that. I always liked him. I just don't think his resume is this shining track record that people are saying. Although again I get it, getting rid of Neal Brown is big and everyone is excited and its a breath of fresh air.
