Rich Rodriguez
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Rich Rodriguez (b. May 24, 1963 in Grant Town, West Virginia) is the current head football coach at West Virginia University. Often known by students and the media simply as "Coach Rod," Rodriguez is the 31st head football coach of the WVU Mountaineers and is also a 1986 alumnus of the school. He is one of only a handful of head coaches currently coaching at their alma mater.
Rodriguez graduated from North Marion High School in 1981 where he had played four sports and was an all state football and basketball player. After high school, Rodriguez attended WVU where he first walked on to the football team and later earned a scholarship under coach Don Nehlen. Playing as a defensive back, Rodriguez recorded 54 career tackles over three seasons.
During the 1985-1986 season, Rodriguez served as a student assistant coach under Nehlen and graduated with a Physical Education and Safety degree. In 1986, he moved to what was then Salem College (now Salem International University) where he served as special teams coordinator and secondary coach. In 1987 he became Salem’s defensive coordinator and in 1988 took over as head coach. At 24 years old, he was the youngest college head coach in the country.
When Salem's football program was disbanded, Rodriguez returned to WVU as a volunteer coach for the 1989 football season but left again to take over as head coach at Glenville State College. During his stay from 1990 to 1996, the team earned three consecutive West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships and competed in the 1993 NAIA national championship. While at Glenville, Rodriguez compiled a record of 43-28-2 and was named WVIAC Coach of the Year in 1993 and 1994, NAIA National Coach of the year in 1993, and West Virginia State College Coach of the Year in 1993 by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.
Roriguez left Glenville State at the end of the 1996 season to serve as assistant coach, offensive coordinator, and quarterback coach for Tulane University from 1997 to 1998, under head coach Tommy Bowden. When Bowden was hired as the head coach at Clemson University, he retained Rodriguez on his staff. Rodriguez served as the offensive coordinator and associate head coach until the end of the 2000 season.
On November 26, 2000, WVU's athletic department announced that Rodriguez would again return to WVU, this time as head coach to replace the retiring Don Nehlen. With a contract until at least 2009, Rodriguez has brought his unique offensive style to WVU and after a disappointing first year, has led the Mountaineers to four straight winning years, three of which (2003, 2004, & 2005), the Mountaineers have won outright or shared the Big East Conference championship. Rodriguez has led the team to three straight bowl appearances (the 2002 Continental Tire Bowl, and the 2003 and 2004 Gator Bowl). In 2005, Rodriguez and the Mountaineers won the Big East title, thus claiming the conference's automatic berth in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), where they defeated The Georgia Bulldogs in the Nokia Sugar Bowl and a final Associated Press ranking of fifth, tying the highest in school history (other in 1988).
Rodriguez has been considered the pioneer/creator of the spread option offense[1][2], while at Glenville State, which he has refined through his stops at Tulane, Clemson and now West Virginia.
References
- ^ Lang, Arne. "College Coaching Award". Retrieved 2006-10-18.
- ^ Davie, Bob. "Football 101: Mountaineers spread the wealth". Retrieved 2006-10-18.