Nostalgia has hit Morgantown with the hiring of Rich Rodriguez as head coach for his second stint leading the Mountaineers.

Pat White quarterbacked West Virginia from 2005 to ’08. White was with Rodriguez for three of those years, before the coach left Morgantown to take the University of Michigan job in 2008. The duo won in Morgantown, touting a 32-5 record together with the Mountaineers.

Now, with Rodriguez back in town, White was asked about his interest in his own return on BetOnline’s “The Pacman Jones Show.”

Jones, a West Virginia alum himself, lobbied for White’s return to the university, calling a potential move a “no-brainer.”

“It would be nice to be back in them mountains, man,” White said in response to Jones. “Back connecting with my guy Rich.”

Jones asked White if a return to his alma mater is something he’d seriously consider.

“Morgantown is a second home. I love coaching the game of football,” White continued. “And to have an opportunity to work with a guy who helped me make a name for myself and getting there to allow another guy similar to myself build a name for himself and finally get that national championship Morgantown has been waiting on.”

White spent time on the coaching staffs at Alcorn State, South Florida and Alabama State. He was also an offensive assistant with the Los Angeles Chargers from 2022 to ’23.

There are only fond memories of the Pat White-era in West Virginia. Now, with Rodriguez’s return, he may be on his way back too in an effort to help restore the program’s winning ways.

As Rich Rodriguez transitions into becoming the head coach of West Virginia, his tendencies and how he attacks each game schematically won’t change just because he has a new job.

Rodriguez is known for his hurry-up style offense. His strong run game includes the quarterback as a big part, which Rodriguez does not envision changing.

“Certain things have changed a little bit. I always thought the tempo and playing fast, who wants to watch a lot of fat guys hold hands in a huddle, so when we huddle up, it’s like a trick play for us,” Rodriguez said.

At Jax State this past season, the Gamecocks’ offense ranked 58th in the country in plays per game and third nationally in rushing attempts per game, showing Rodriguez’s desire to run the ball and go fast at the same time.

Jax State quarterback Tyler Huff was 12th in the nation this season in rushing yards and was second among all quarterbacks in rushing 1,343 yards on the ground. Jax State also ran the ball on 67 percent of their possessions, which was fourth in the country, only behind the three service academies.

Defensively, there is a style Rodriguez wants to play with, but he’s unsure of the specifics of the specific schematics of it all.

“It depends on the coordinator I hire. I have a couple that I’ve talked to, I have a couple in mind, and they’re both different, they’re not the same. Everybody runs a little bit of everything now defensively, whether it’s an odd-stack or an even front, and everybody kind of has certain personnel packages they use on defense. I’m going to pick the d-coordinator, I’ll have a really good one because I have enough resources to hire a really, really, good one, and then from there, I’ll build out the defensive staff,” Rodriguez said of who will be leading his defense.

Rodriguez added he wants to pressure opposing teams and be the aggressor on defense rather than let the offense dictate the style of play.

“There’s not one particular scheme that I want other than I want us to be really, really, aggressive, and I want to force the issue so to speak on the other team,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez and the Gamecocks had a 76.4 overall grade on defense per Pro Football Focus this season but graded out to 61.2 in the pass rush grade category.

If West Virginia had any hard feelings toward Rich Rodriguez for leaving 17 years ago, they weren’t apparent at the press conference introducing his return to Morgantown on Friday.

Well, one fan apparently wasn’t enthused about Rodriguez coming back to coach the Mountaineers. But the heckler was quickly shouted down by the fans in attendance and eventually escorted out of the WVU Coliseum.

Rodriguez had a quick quip for the heckler, winning over the crowd that was already enthusiastic about his return.

“OK, any other Pitt fans can leave the building,” said Rodriguez, who previously coached West Virginia from 2001-07 before leaving for Michigan.

The response from fans — and insulting chants toward rival Pitt — made Rodriguez emotional as he began his remarks.

“This is really surreal,” he said. “I never should have left.”

Rodriguez signed a five-year contract with WVU and will be paid an average annual salary of $3.75 million, according to ESPN. The value of the deal could increase with incentives tied to win totals and other benchmarks.

During his first stint in Morgantown, Rodriguez went 60–26 with five bowl appearances including a Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia after the 2005 season. WVU went 32–5 in Rodriguez’s last three seasons and oversaw a revolutionary spread-option offense. Most memorably, the Mountaineers were in position for the BCS championship game in 2007 but lost 13–9 to Pitt.

Rodriguez left before WVU played in the Fiesta Bowl, where they defeated Oklahoma under interim coach Bill Stewart. Stewart was eventually named the permanent head coach.

That final loss to Pitt apparently stuck with Rodriguez, who made a point of taking a few jabs at the Panthers during his press conference and an interview with WVU alum Pat McAfee.

“I probably misspoke a little bit earlier when I said the two worst four-letter words were ‘soft’ and ‘lazy,’” Rodriguez said when describing the kinds of players he did not want at West Virginia. “I left out Pitt.”

West Virginia and Pitt play next season on Sept. 13.