Can Rich Rodriguez Prove Lindy’s Wrong About WVU in 2025?

The West Virginia Mountaineers football team finally made a coaching change in the offseason and went back in time to make a new hire.

Out went Neal Brown, who underachieved in his time with WVU, and in came Rich Rodriguez, who led the Mountaineers to some of their greatest triumphs before he set off to coach at Michigan in 2008.  

The prodigal son, the native of Grant Town, W.V., is back in Morgantown to try and lead the Mountaineers to a Big 12 title for the first time. He might need some time to get things moving in the right direction.

Lindy’s Sports recently published its preview for the Big 12, including the Mountaineers. Heartland College Sports will weigh in with our previews later this summer. 

The magazine picked West Virginia to finish 14th in the Big 12. Here are three thoughts on the preview.

A BARE CUPBOARD

In the transfer portal era, coaching changes typically lead to a lot of player turnover. West Virginia was no exception when athletic director Wren Baker made the change from Brown to Rodriguez.

Lindy’s showed the Mountaineers had two returning starters on offense — running back Jahiem White and wide receiver Rodney Gallagher III. There’s also the punter, Oliver Straw.

White is a good starter to have back. After rushing for 884 yards a season ago in a timeshare, he could get a chance to be the lead back.

Otherwise, the projected starting lineup is brand new, made up of players who were there a year ago but didn’t get much of a shot or transferred.

THOSE THAT FOLLOWED

Another trend in the transfer portal era is players following coaches. It’s a relatively new phenomenon that has grown each year.

Rodriguez was last at Jacksonville State, which just made the move from FCS to FBS. A few of his star players followed him to Morgantown for a shot at big-time college football

Among the best is wide receiver Cam Vaughn, who caught 48 passes and averaged 15.6 yards per catch a season ago.

Since Rodriguez is carrying the same scheme with him that he ran at Jacksonville State, it should be a snug fit for Vaughn and the other five Gamecocks that followed.

PLAY CALLING

Rodriguez is set to call his own plays offensively, so this should be a really fun offense to watch, assuming the pieces fit together. He remains one of the most creative offensive minds in the game, and watching his Jacksonville State offense a year ago, one could see the threads back to the WVU offenses of old.

Zac Alley will call the defensive plays, and that was a bit of a coup for Rodriguez. Alley worked for RichRod at Jacksonville State in 2023, and then he left to take over the defense at Oklahoma. After a year with the Sooners, he linked back up with Rodriguez in Morgantown.

Alley crafted a great defense at Jacksonville State. He also did the same at OU. So, it’s not that he didn’t get the job done at OU. Perhaps working for Rodriguez is a better fit? We’ll find out.