Rich Rodriguez returning to Backyard Brawl: West Virginia coach's record vs Pitt Craig Meyer, USA TODAY NETWORKSeptember 13, 2025 at 4:01 AM 0 On a frigid night in northern West Virginia 18 years ago — around when some of his current players were born — Rich Rodriguez walked off Mountaineer Field at...
- - Rich Rodriguez returning to Backyard Brawl: West Virginia coach's record vs Pitt
Craig Meyer, USA TODAY NETWORKSeptember 13, 2025 at 4:01 AM
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On a frigid night in northern West Virginia 18 years ago — around when some of his current players were born — Rich Rodriguez walked off Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium as a man defeated.
Entering the night, his West Virginia football team was just one win away, against a 4-7 Pitt team, from making the BCS national championship game. Instead, the Mountaineers' high-powered offense was held in check and was stunned at home by their archrival as a four-touchdown favorite in a game that's remembered nearly two decades later by its unusual final score — 13-9.
Two weeks later, Rodriguez was gone, leaving his alma mater to become the head coach at Michigan and ending arguably the most successful era in the program's modern history.
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The Mountaineers' game against Pitt on Saturday, Sept. 13 will be the first marquee matchup for Rodriguez since being hired back by his former school last December. Though his team enters the contest on the heels of a 17-10 loss at Ohio, it will have the chance to pick up a much-needed win in front of a spirited home crowd in a series that will be dormant for the next several years.
Here's what you about Rodriguez's return to West Virginia and his history with Pitt heading into the latest edition of the Backyard Brawl:
Why did West Virginia hire Rich Rodriguez?
Of all the reunions that have been forged between football coaches and their former schools over the past 10 years — like Bobby Petrino at Louisville, Mack Brown at North Carolina, Greg Schiano at Rutgers and, most recently, Scott Frost at UCF — Rodriguez's return to West Virginia is the most unlikely.
His West Virginia roots are deep, having grown up in the state and played for the Mountaineers. But his departure to Michigan after the end of the 2007 season created wounds that seemed unlikely to ever heal.
Rodriguez left the school only four months after signing a one-year contract extension through 2013. By not honoring the terms of that deal, Rodriguez owed the university $4 million, but his attorneys offered just $1.5 million, leading to a lawsuit in which West Virginia was ultimately able to recoup the full buyout.
According to emails obtained at the time by the , Rodriguez's agent, Mike Brown, was threatening the Mountaineers that November by warning that Rodriguez could leave for openings at schools like Texas A&M and Florida State.
West Virginia fans felt betrayed by how everything had transpired and turned against someone who had once been one of their own. Rodriguez's parents, who lived near the West Virginia campus, claimed they had been harassed by Mountaineers fans. A highway sign declaring Grant Town, West Virginia as Rodriguez's hometown was removed.
"Everybody has taken sides and many believe Rich is a traitor," a prominent West Virginia booster told ESPN in 2008. "The endgame is the university is a big loser because the image of the university is tarnished, and that's sad."
The bitter feelings lasted for years. A Public Policy Polling study in 2013 found that only 11% of West Virginia residents had a favorable view of Rodriguez, while 47% viewed him unfavorably.
Over time, as it often does, that bitterness waned. At least some of that had to do with the Mountaineers failing to reach the heights Rodriguez had led them to from 2005-07. They never finished a season in the top 15 of the Coaches Poll in the 17 years after Rodriguez left. The third and final of his successors, Neal Brown, finished with a winning record in just two of six seasons.
Those relative struggles made Rodriguez's later years at West Virginia, with a 33-5 record and two BCS bowls in his final three seasons, be remembered that much more fondly. He was excelling on his own, too, leading Jacksonville State to a 27-10 record in three seasons, even as it made the FCS-to-FBS transition. And he did so while running an offense that was remarkably similar to the one he had perfected with Pat White and Steve Slaton with the Mountaineers.
Shortly after Brown was fired, Rodriguez became the popular choice among West Virginia fans to be their next coach, with popular ESPN personality and former Mountaineers kicker Pat McAfee helping lead the charge to bring his old coach back. They got their wish, with athletic director Wren Baker choosing Rodriguez to lead the program.
"I will earn your support," Rodriguez said at his introductory news conference. "We will earn your support and your trust back. I'm committed to that, and I've thought about that even before this opportunity. This is my home. This is such a great state. I'll prove to them that the man to my right made the right decision."
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Rich Rodriguez record vs Pitt
Though he's most remembered for the stunning loss in 2007, Rodriguez got the better of West Virginia's hated rival more often than not.
In Rodriguez's first stint as the Mountaineers' coach, from 2001-07, his teams went 4-3 against Pitt, with three of the four victories coming by at least three possessions.
Here's a look at how West Virginia has fared under Rodriguez against Pitt:
2001: Pitt 23, West Virginia 17
2002: West Virginia 24, Pitt 17
2003: West Virginia 52, Pitt 31
2004: Pitt 16, West Virginia 13
2005: West Virginia 45, Pitt 13
2006: West Virginia 45, Pitt 27
2007: Pitt 13, West Virginia 9
The final of those games sticks with him, even all these years later.
"Is it a sore spot when it's brought up? Yeah," Rodriguez said during a news conference this week. "It was the worst moment of my professional career from a game standpoint. I tried to move past it a long time ago."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rich Rodriguez in Backyard Brawl: WVU coach's record vs rival Pitt
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