As WVU football fans gather around a dinner room table today on Thanksgiving 2025, some may decide to give thanks for having Rich Rodriguez back in charge of the football program. Though the number of those who will do that is likely significantly smaller than it would be if the Mountaineers weren't just 4-7 heading into a season-finale against Texas Tech.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, is probably feeling pretty thankful on his first Thanksgiving after getting the call to return home. After making what he has called a mistake multiple times by leaving the program 17 years ago, he has another chance to restore his alma mater to glory.
But what is college football thankful for this year? Well, in part, they're thankful for Rich Rodriguez.
It might not seem obvious on the surface, but Rodriguez might be your favorite head coach's favorite head coach. He's widely respected across the sport, and all you have to do is listen to how some opposing coaches have described Rodriguez this year. The respect, the deference, the admiration other coaches have for Rodriguez show plain as day that even as he seeks to close his career by restoring his beloved Mountaineers to prominence, his impact and his legacy on college football has already been solidified.
"Coach Rodriguez is a coaching legend, I respect the heck out of him. [He has] another chance at the coaching realm, and he's back and coaching with a vengeance," Colorado coach Deion Sanders said before WVU's showdown with Colorado. "He is a coaching legend to me and I love the passion and tenacity and mental and physical toughness that he coaches with."
"That’s a guy who could go into the Hall of Fame. He changed the entire game of how to play offensive football for an era," Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham said this past summer.
The Mountaineers have a leader in charge of the program that isn't just another head coach. One of the top-ten winningest active coaches, he is an almost mythical figure in college football for his innovative offense schemes that have since become commonplace among all levels of the sport in the US.
"Offensively, I know it’s been said a lot, but I think Rich Rod was one of the guys that kind of changed what college football looks like," UCF head coach Scott Frost said ahead of his clash with Rodriguez this season.
"Anyone who knows anything about college football saw what Rich Rod was doing back in the day. He's been a head coach for a long time and he had things rolling for quite a long time, especially there at West Virginia," BYU head coach Kalai Sitake posited before West Virgini'a trip to Provo in October.
And now, Rodriguez is back to try and replicate the magic he created all those years ago at WVU after successful stints at Arizona and Jacksonville State followed his not-so-successful tenure at Michigan immediately after his initial departure from Morgantown in 2007. And as he attempt to do so, he is coaching against peers who aren't just studying his team's film from the previous week for a game plan, but people who taught themselves how to coach by watching Rodriguez in their youth.
"Coach Rodriguez is a guy I've studied for a long time, his offense, dating back to when I was a high school coach," Dillingham said a few weeks ago ahead of an Arizona State-WVU match-up.
Whether his second tenure at WVU works out or not in the long run, it cannot be overstated what Rodriguez has done for West Virginia as a program over the course of his career, and what he means to the Mountaineers. Nor can it be overlooked his massive impact on college football. So as you give thanks before digging into your turkey and stuffing this year, be grateful as both a college football fan and a WVU fan for Rich Rodriguez.