• West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez called for major college football to reorganize into regional divisions.
• He proposed about 60 teams should pool their television revenue and share it.
• His comments came as Congress considers a bill to allow the pooling of TV rights among schools.

FRISCO, TX − West Virginia football coach Rich Rodriguez made a public plea for some reason and logic to return to major college football after decades of conference expansion, contraction and realignment from coast to coast.

He made his pitch at his news conference at the annual Big 12 Conference media days here Wednesday, July 8. Rodriguez proposes about 60 teams to come together, share their money and divide themselves into regional sections, sort of like how college football used to be with the former Big East, Pac-12, Big 12, Southeastern and Atlantic Coast Conferences.

“Can’t we all come together and shake hands and give each other a group hug and then have an Eastern regional and a South regional and a North regional, and then everybody share the money?” Rodriguez said. “And, you know, with this money for everybody, we all can get along, like 60 of us or so. I think that would be great. I don’t know. Did anybody else say that? Probably not. They might be afraid. Hell, I don’t care.”

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Rodriguez, 63, made his comments in the context of his team not playing rival Pittsburgh in the Backyard Brawl again until 2029. They used to play regularly as independents and then members of the Big East before Pitt left to join the ACC in 2013. Since then, realignment has ripped apart regional leagues such as the Pac-12, which saw four marquee West Coast teams depart in 2024 to pursue more money in the Big Ten while others left for the Big 12 and ACC.

Meanwhile, Congress is considering a bill, the Protect College Sports Act, that would allow the pooling of television rights between more than 100 schools. It aims to spread the wealth more beyond just two dominant leagues.

“I’m not speaking for anybody other than Coach Rod, that he would love for all the Power Four teams to come together, shake hands, and then, hey, let’s pick the biggest TV package in the history of TV packages,” Rodriguez said. “And then we could have Pitt, Virginia Tech and Penn State and Maryland and Cincinnati and maybe Virginia or North Carolina, one of those, all right there. And our fans could drive to it. You know, we have a rivalry every year, and everybody makes money. Nobody gets fired. Players did good.”

Rodriguez noted his pitch might not fly in today’s world but wanted to throw it out there before it’s too late. He previously served as head coach at Michigan and Arizona.

“Wouldn’t that be fun?” he asked. “Can we put that together? I got all the (athletic directors) out there shaking their head like I’m nuts. I’m just, I mean, this is, you know, I got more time, a lot more time behind me than ahead of me. I want to just get this thing right before I leave.”

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

A tiny West Virginia town has been left without a police department after every officer was fired following a dispute over an apparent break-in at the department’s evidence room.

The Barrackville Police Department announced in a Facebook post Tuesday that, effective immediately, every member of the department had been relieved of duty by the Barrackville Town Council and Mayor Tom Straight.

A former sergeant, identified only as Sgt. Hunt, told 12 News he arrived at the department Tuesday morning and found the evidence room had been broken into.

Hunt said he immediately called a meeting with Straight and the town council.

According to Hunt, council members had previously said they wanted to inventory the department without any officers present.

He also claimed a council member admitted to taking a set of police keys.

After accusing members of the town government of breaking into the evidence room, Hunt said he and the department’s only other officer were immediately removed from active duty.

Hunt said the department’s police clerk also resigned, leaving the town with no police staff. He said he informed the mayor and council that he would be seeking whistleblower protection.

The mass firing came less than a week after Barrackville Police Chief Zachary Freeburn resigned. Hunt said the chief quit over what he described as repeated clashes with the town council over how much control it had over the department.

Marion County Sheriff Roger Cunningham told the station that deputies will continue responding to calls in Barrackville while the town of 1,288 people is without a police department.

Resident Isabella Pham said she hopes the turmoil comes to an end.

“I just think that the town right now is in a little bit of a mess,” Pham told the West Virginian Times. 

“We’ve gone through a lot of different people, and I’m just hoping that at the end of this, we can get a little bit of stability, transparency and security, and get back to having a stronger community versus a town of pitchforks and torches.”