After a tough 2025 season ended with just four wins for the West Virginia Mountaineers, fans of the program are looking for positives as they now prepare for the second season with Rich Rodriguez in charge since he returned for a second stint at his alma mater. And one thing that might be able to allow WVU football fans to rest easy entering this offseason is the fact that they'll be facing a schedule next season that is looking easier with each passing day of change across the college football landscape.
The Mountaineers don't know the exact dates and times for their conference affairs yet, but they do know all 12 teams that will make up their schedule next season. And looking at that list of opponents leaves some room for hope for West Virginia. The good news starts on the coaching front, as the Mountaineers will face four different teams that will have new head coaches at the helm.
WVU has a scheduled non-conference match-up with the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, who just fired Tim Beck and hired Missouri State coach Ryan Beard to take over the program. And once conference play begins, the Mountaineers draw Iowa State, Oklahoma State, and Utah.
The Cyclones just had to make a quick hire to replace Matt Campbell as he took the opening at Penn State, while Utah promoted defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley as veteran coach Kyle Whittingham announced he was stepping down after over two decades leading the program. The Cowboys, meanwhile, fired 20+ year head coach Mike Gundy earlier this season, and recently hired North Texas coach Eric Morris to fill the role.
Then comes an added bonus with transfer portal movement, as two of the team's WVU draws next year in Big 12 play are Cincinnati and TCU. The Bearcats finished their season 7-5 and were a surprise team in the Big 12 this year, but are now losing their starting quarterback, Brendan Sorsby, to the transfer portal. And on Thursday night, the news broke that TCU, who finished 8-4 and defeated WVU 23-17 this season, is losing veteran starting quarterback Josh Hoover to the transfer portal.
This all behooves the Mountaineers, whose fans know all too well how difficult the season after a head coaching change can be, or how tough it can be to adjust after losing a star quarterback. Now, that makes six teams on West Virginia's schedule next season that will be dealing with at least one of those changes.
If West Virginia can figure things out entering year two of Rodriguez's current tenure and get the right pieces of place, these moves have all worked out to give the Mountaineers a prime schedule to rebound in 2026. But it will still be up to the Mountaineers to make it happen.