MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez has returned home, completing a circuitous journey to revive the Mountaineers program's glory.
By Year 2, he has already recruited 150 new players and gotten a clear idea of the challenge he faces in bringing WVU to the top of the Big 12. He sums up the state of the game this way: "This is the most chaotic time in the history of college sports."
The Mountaineers went 4-8 in Rodriguez's first season in 2025. What can they do for a sequel? ESPN stopped by Morgantown recently to check in on Rodriguez's progress and see what this year's latest overhauled roster can bring.
ESPN: The most striking thing to me is you've had 150 new players come through here since you arrived.
Rich Rodriguez: "I have to carry a roster sheet to every practice with their picture on it and their numbers so I know exactly who I'm yelling at. [Laughs] Like I said, I'd like to go to all their graduation ceremonies, but hell, I ain't got time. There's so many of them graduating. I'm not asking them what their major is. I'm asking where you're going to grad school. At some point, it'll be looked at like, this is the most chaotic time in the history of college sports. But you could just throw your hands up and say, 'I give up,' or I take the approach, the goalposts are moving, let's keep moving with it. But it's hard for the fan base to truly understand the world that we're living in. And it's hard for coaches to not get frustrated when you do everything you can, you think, to win and yet you just get outbid."
ESPN: When you got hired, there's obviously a sprint to fill the roster. How much more situated do you feel here in Year 2?
Rodriguez: "Last year we didn't have a whole lot of time, and then had very little money. This year we had a whole lot of time and a little more money. So both of those equations helped out. I had some very dear friends, and they know who they are, that bailed us out in NIL last year because we were in a tough situation with that. This year, we had the full rev share from the school and we had time to evaluate more. And so not that last year they were all bad players, but this year we could be a little more purposeful in what we got and what we needed and our approach going forward with it. So I've seen a difference. I think, again, the season would tell the tale of it, but is money a factor? A hundred percent. And anybody that says it's not is joking you."
ESPN: You guys flashed late in the last quarter of the season, winning at No. 22 Houston and beating Colorado at home. Then you played Arizona State close in Tempe. Is that a sign you had the culture you wanted?
Rodriguez: "I thought it took way too long, but going out of Houston and [winning against] a good team that was ranked on the road and we didn't play perfect in that game, but we played with the type of edge and intensity that we needed to. And so that was encouraging to see. And then you backed it up with another win. And then even in Tempe, like you said, a pretty good team on the road losing at the last minute. You could see parts of that form. And then the last game, we laid a complete egg and were awful [against Texas Tech]. ... I had to make some difficult changes staff wise. But people coming from the outside are coming in and say, 'You look a whole lot different.' And I'm like, 'Damn, I hope so.'"
ESPN: Let's start with the quarterback. There's been significant change there. What can we expect?
Rodriguez: "Yeah, we knew we were going to lose a couple guys in the portal. Scotty Fox was coming back. He's a talented freshman that got some really good experience and we are really excited for him. But we wanted somebody that could compete with Scotty. And we were thinking about taking two transfers because we lost three in the portal. But we got Mike Hawkins [from Oklahoma], and I had seen him play a little bit and there was some body of work to judge him on, but also kind of thinking, I think this guy, he's got an edge to him, wanting to prove himself kind of deal. And he's got all the skill set that we need. And so he came here and then he's been everything we thought and then some. And then Scotty's [played well], so the competition between both of those guys has elevated ... to the point where I feel we've got two guys right now that I would jump out there to be a starting quarterback and be good with."
ESPN: Is the offense going to start to form an identity that will be familiar to fans with some of the great offenses you've had over the years?
Rodriguez: "Well, I think it'll start with our guys up front with the O-line. We couldn't gain a foot for a lot of reasons. I mean, we were on our fourth quarterback, we're on our fifth running back, all this kind of stuff. But we didn't move people. We didn't play with enough of an edge. ... Hiring Rick Trickett [as offensive line coach] was a big bonus because he knows the system and he knows exactly how I want them coached and how I want it to go. And so it's been a really good marriage from that standpoint and getting the offense in general up front to play the way I want. And then the quarterback play, I mean, Scotty with more years experience, Mike with his talent and his ... Mike's a fast learner, fast processor. So I think we're more talented now, certainly than we were at this time last year.
ESPN: Who has stood out skill wise? Jaden Bray is a familiar name, Cam Cook obviously has some experience in the league. Prince Strachan from USC has had flashes. Can you give us a sense of the piece who'll emerge?
Rodriguez: Bray would have probably been our most dependable receiver last year, got hurt in the second game. Prince is a guy who's done it at that level and when he's healthy, he's a good player there. Cam Cook was the most productive ... and has proven himself on that level and in the Big 12 before. So that part was really good. As I mentioned, a couple of linemen that we brought in were starters at the Group of 5 level. I'm talking about 33-game starters. So they played a lot of football. So we're older and more experienced in a lot of areas, but also have some young guys I think can be like Kevin Brown on the offensive line. We signed him. He's a true freshman, but he doesn't look like one. His dad played for me and we kind of got him to flip at the last minute with all the stuff that's going on at Penn State. He's got a shot to start as a true freshman, which is rare, but he's a rare guy. So we look a lot more athletic, but we also look like we've got a lot more competition at a lot of positions."
ESPN: Is Matt Sieg another one of those freshmen who could make an impact?
Rodriguez: "Matt's another guy we flipped at the last minute, you know what I mean? He's looked very comfortable at safety, just like we thought we'd be. And he might play some offense, too."
ESPN: Really? Receiver?
Rodriguez: "Yeah, or the slot or even quarterback and special packages and stuff like that. So he played quarterback in high school."
ESPN: You signed 39 freshmen in this class. Walk me through that philosophically in an era where everyone wants to get old, why did you want so many young guys?
Rodriguez: "Because we knew we still were going to sign 20 old guys, you know what I mean? Because we had to sign 70 people. So it was like, 'Hey, you're going to sign 20 transfers.' Yeah, and 39 freshmen. Well, some of those are junior college guys that cut three or four of those. So I would have been panicking like it was just freshmen. No, we also signed 20 old men. And even in the transfer guys, we took a couple seniors and I think those turned out really well because we got mature guys that love football. I mean, good fits as seniors, but most of the other transfers were underclassmen that had several years of eligibility. ... Competitiveness is the one trait that you truly try to decipher. Some guys getting in the portal are non-competitive because they want something handed to them. And some are ultra-competitive because they want to prove themselves. And that's where we try to identify that ultra-competitive guy that maybe moved from here to here and he keeps moving up because he wants to try and prove himself at the highest level. And those are the kind of guys I think that we can win with."
ESPN: Nearly the entire defense is new. I'm not going to make you go through the two-deep, but who could fans see flash in the fall?
Rodriguez: "Andrew Powdrell is 5-foot-9½, 180 pounds. He started off at Montana State, played there two years, played every game. He goes to UNLV, plays every game for a good program, all that, but he wants to prove himself. Now he's here and he's going to be a starter on Day 1. And every practice, he plays like he was an uninvited walk-on that was just trying to get a meal. And that type of competitiveness, and he flashed from the first practice to last."
ESPN: You obviously were here for a glory era, then left and the world changed. You're back here now. You have the lay of the land of where West Virginia is in the Big 12, in this new era of college football. Do you feel like you can win at a high level here? Is it in place to go on and push forward and compete for championships like you did in the Big East days?
Rodriguez: "Yeah. I think that, and I said this when I took the job, 'We can win it at West Virginia. We can win a lot of games.' Money has become more of a factor in the last year and a half than it was a year and a half ago, but I still think we can. ... Can you win a national championship? I still think so, but if rosters go to $80 million or $90 million, then it's going to be like, OK, now you're really taking the chances down a little bit. When rosters that are for a full share, rough share of $14 million, but rosters, some of the people are doing $25 [million] or $30 [million], you still got a chance. I think we can compete with that. When rosters get up to $50 million, $60 million, $70 million, they'd have to be idiots not to be able to get a really good roster with that, right? So that would make it a little bit more difficult. But it's funny because being from here and knowing that West Virginia has always been kind of an underdog mentality, they think we can do it. And because I'm from here and coached here, played here, whatever, I understand that. I don't want to say that's our secret sauce, but that's something that we will use to help us, I don't want to say overachieve, but help us achieve more than what people would expect. So I think we get the right pieces, I feel good that we can win a Big 12 championship, get in a playoff and make it happen. With $90 million rosters though, I'd have to refrain from saying that stuff."
ESPN: What has been the most fun part of being back?
Rodriguez: "Boy, that's a good question. I say my happiness is based on winning, so I'm pissed off right now. But the neat part is not what has changed from here, which are $50 million in our facility. I mean, our cafeteria, we eat like champions. We want for nothing. We got everything you need. It's what's still the same. It's still the same underdog mentality, like people don't think we could do this coach and you surprise somebody or another sport at our school wins a championship. And like I see in our women's basketball team being in the NCAA tournament and the crowd at the Coliseum was a bigger crowd than they've ever had in their life. And they came from everywhere and it was like for that many folks to show up for a women's tournament game was unbelievable to see. And I'm like, 'Can you imagine what it's going to be like if we're competing for a Big 12 championship or for a playoff or have a home game here, a home playoff game on Mountaineer Field?'"
