West Virginia football fans are hungry and eager to return to the program's winning ways of the early 2000's. Rich Rodriguez, who was the program's coach during that successful stretch and is now returning to Morgantown for a second stint at the helm, has brought a much-needed attitude change to the Mountaineers in hopes of achieving those goals.
That change might be subtle now, and hard to recognize for many -- but you can tell a lot about a person from who they hire, and the return of familiar faces indicate a shift in culture from the era of Neal Brown and Dana Holgorsen back towards winning football back to WVU.
Rodriguez appears to be reshaping the organization as a whole with the presence of program greats such as Pat White on the sidelines this fall. An alum of the program from the first Rodriguez era, White understands the culture his former coach-turned-boss wants to instill, brings a plethora of winning experience as an assistant coach, and has the love of the fanbase as a WVU football legend. Former WVU running back Noel Devine will be another Rodriguez-era player joining the staff as an Offensive Analyst and Assistant Running Backs Coach that brings a similar pedigree within the program.
Another name returning to the program is Jeff Casteel, a West Virginia native who served as Rodriguez's Defensive Coordinator during their first tenure with the Mountaineers -- Casteel also served as a defensive assistant for WVU under former coaches Bill Stewart, Dana Holgorsen, and Neal Brown.
But Casteel and Rodriguez have known each other even longer than you might expect -- old foes turned coaching mates, Rodriguez and Casteel share a history of battles in the now-defunct West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) at the Division 2 level when Rodriguez helmed Glenville State while Casteel served as Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator at Shepherd.
It goes back to when Rich was the head coach at Glenville, and I was the defensive coordinator at Shepherd," Casteel said about their relationship. "We interacted, saw each other out recruiting, and we had some pretty good games."
That's the type of long-term relationship in the college football industry that build coaching staff's with a unified culture and goal -- and it never hurts when your former players are coming back to join your staff. All of these names starred in Morgantown during an era in which WVU was at it's best, and Rodriguez is slowly working to build the foundation to returning the program to prominence. Morgantown is abuzz, the fanbase is ecstatic, and we are only in mid-February.
Most of the building has been done behind the scenes on Law School Hill and within the football facilities at Milan Puskar Stadium. But with the 'Tour of Duty' back on the schedule and familiar faces joining the staff each day, it's hard to doubt that winners are being shaped daily. Fans will have their first chance to see the product on the field when WVU football hosts the 2025 Gold-Blue Spring Showcase on April 5th. Until then, Rodriguez looks to continue to fuel his second stint with the Mountaineers.