Rich Rodriguez Expects To Be "Talking About The Playoffs" For WVU Football In 2026

While the 2025 season is certainly not coming to an end the way the West Virginia Mountaineers had hoped, fans have still been somewhat content to see a little bit more fight out of their team in recent weeks. WVU has gone 2-2 in their past four games, with the two losses coming by a combined eight points. And as West Virginia continues to work out their kinks in the first season of the second tenure of new head coach Rich Rodriguez, he is hopeful that the program will be in a much different situation next year at this time.

Rodriguez made an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday not long after the Mountaineers received a commitment from four-star offensive tackle commit Kevin Brown earlier in the program. During the interview, Rodriguez discussed some of the struggles the team has faced in getting things established during his first season, and how he believes he's in the process of building a roster that will address those issues.

"We knew we were going to have some road bumps. We didn't expect to play four quarterbacks and five tailbacks, and all that kind of stuff, but we knew we had to make sure we set the culture the first year. No matter what happens, our culture, our hard edge, our work ethic, our toughness, all that kind of stuff has to be set this year. That's painful sometimes," Rodriguez said.

"We think we're getting there, but we're not all the way there. It's a hell of a lot easier when you get the right guys on your roster, which we have some, but we're going to have a whole lot more too. This time next year, we expect to be talking about the playoffs and winning championships and all that stuff."

Conference championships and playoff bids might seem like far-away dreams right now, but when looking at transformation's like Indiana in Curt Cignetti's first two seasons, or Arizona State in the Big 12 the past two years, it's clear that such drastic turnarounds can be achieved. Even when they aren't likely.