West Virginia
Rich Rodriguez says he 'should've never left' West Virginia, has quip for heckler at intro presser
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.
Every game is considered a “must-win” when you really think about it, but in some instances, certain games feel a little more important than others.
Even after a slow start, there was no worry whatsoever that West Virginia would lose to Coppin State on Wednesday night. Getting out to a slow start in tonight’s matchup against Wake Forest could be troublesome, and it’s a game that the Mountaineers absolutely need to have.
The season is still young, but West Virginia enters tonight’s game ranked 95th in the NCAA’s NET Rankings, and if you drop this one, you’re really digging yourself quite a hole before Big 12 Conference play even begins.
According to the ESPN Basketball Power Index (BPI), the Mountaineers have a 61.6% chance to take care of business, while Wake Forest has a 38.4% chance to spoil the fun for WVU fans from the southern part of the state.
West Virginia’s recent games
After going a disappointing 0-2 in the Charleston Classic, the Mountaineers have bounced back, as expected, beating Mercyhurst by 32 and Coppin State by 42. For the first time, really this season, the Mountaineers opened the game a little flat, even falling behind to Coppin State in the first handful of minutes of the game. They eventually turned things around and held them to just 17 second half points en route to a dominant victory.
Wake Forest’s recent games
The Demon Deacons saw their three-game winning streak come to an end earlier this week with a blowout loss to Oklahoma. Their two other losses came by a single point each, falling to No. 6 Michigan in overtime and No. 15 Texas Tech. Of their six wins, American is the only team they’ve beaten with a winning record. Although they played extremely well against two top-15 teams, they were unable to reach the finish line, so this one is just as important for them.
West Virginia and Wake Forest are slated to get the action started at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
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The West Virginia National Guard member who survived last week’s shooting in Washington is slowly healing, West Virginia’s governor said Friday.
Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe’s head wound is slowly improving and “he’s beginning to ‘look more like himself,’” Gov. Patrick Morrisey said in a statement quoting Wolfe’s parents.
Wolfe and Spc. Sarah Beckstrom were ambushed as they patrolled a subway station three blocks from the White House on Nov. 26. Beckstrom died from her injuries the next day.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who was also shot during the confrontation, has been charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
Wolfe’s family expects he will be in acute care for another two or three weeks, the governor said.
He asked that West Virginians and Americans continue to pray for Wolfe.
A vigil was scheduled to be held for him at his alma mater, Musselman High School, in Berkeley County on Friday night.
Follow the latest on the National Guard shooting in Washington, DC:
Wolfe, 24, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, about 75 miles northwest of Washington, D.C., was assigned to the Force Support Squadron, 167th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia Air National Guard.
He has worked as a lineman with Frontier Communications since early 2023, the company said.
Wolfe joined the National Guard in 2019, the year he graduated from high school.
At Musselman, Wolfe was an engaged and high-achieving student “who embodied the Applemen spirit, contributing positively to our school community both academically and athletically,” Principal Alicia Riggleman said.
Wolfe and Beckstrom were among more than 2,000 troops deployed to the nation’s capital as part of President Donald Trump’s crime-fighting mission that involved taking over the local police department.
One thing is clear when it comes to the future of West Virginia football — this is going to be built the old school way, for the most part. And no, Rich Rodriguez isn’t going to go full Dabo Swinney and completely neglect the transfer portal (I’m not sure where that narrative comes from), but there will be a heavy emphasis on the high school ranks, as there should be.
“The idea would be if you had a choice to get the same guy player-wise that’s got one year left or four years left, you’re going to take the guy that’s got four years left because he’ll grow in your program,” Rodriguez said on Wednesday. “Now, if the guy that’s got one year left or two years left and is a whole lot better player or is more ready to go right now than the other guy, then you’ve got to take that guy. The ideal thing would be to get 2:1 or 3:1 freshman or JC guys compared to the one-year or two-year guys. It’s probably a lesser cost to get the high school guy because they’re unproven at the college level. The portal guys seem to be more expensive, and you’ve got to pay more to get the true experienced, plug-and-play guy out of the portal.”
WVU took a large freshman class because it had to. They were losing 40-some seniors, and you’re not going to be able to go into the transfer portal and fill a bunch of those vacancies, while addressing the depth at every position. Doing so would put you in a very similar situation to last offseason, where you’re spreading your dollars thin, taking yourself out of the running for top-tier talent in the portal.
The other part of this is this group making up for a very watered-down recruiting class a year ago. Yes, the recruiting staff that’s no longer here did a great job of getting things to the finish line with the majority of the class, but a good chunk of those players either ended up requesting release from their NLI (National Letter of Intent) or entered the transfer portal after spring ball, leaving a small group of freshmen.
Rodriguez isn’t going to sign 40 freshmen every year, mainly because you simply can’t, as there are roster limits in place. This class is going to be the group that truly sets the foundation. If they can hit on 15 to 20 of these kids, the rebuild will be accelerated. That sounds like a small number, but it’s really not. Signing 15 players who have starting potential is really strong for a singular recruiting class.
Rodriguez does plan to add somewhere in he neighborhood of 12-15 transfers in January, but with such a large percentage of the roster being freshmen, some more patience will be required in 2026.
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