West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Rich Rodriguez seems on throughout the first half of an NCAA faculty soccer sport in opposition to Utah, Saturday, Sept, 27, 2025, in Morgantown, W.Va. (AP Photo/ William Wotring)
This week marks Rich Rodriguez’s first bye week since returning to West Virginia this December. He has quite a lot of work, turning this season round after a 2-4 begin, and 0-3 in the Big 12.
Rodriguez has had his justifiable share of bye weeks since he first began as a head coach in 2001 at West Virginia the first time. He’s had 28 to be actual, not together with the bye weeks the place there weren’t video games the following week.
Rodriguez’s discovered so much by 4 totally different head teaching stops at WVU, Michigan, Arizona and Jacksonville State. His success after every bye week varies relying on every location, however Rodriguez has been on the extra favorable facet.
Rodriguez’s report after a bye week is 20-8. Some of the video games had been massive wins, and others, head-scratching losses.
Rodriguez’s largest win off the bye was when he was at Arizona in 2014. The Wildcats headed to Eugene, Oregon to face the No. 2-ranked Oregon Ducks and eventual Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota.
The sport began with an enormous kickoff return for Oregon, taking the ball to midfield. It appeared like Arizona was going to get blown out. Then, an Oregon receiver bobbled the ball out of bounds, however because it was nonetheless in the air, a Wildcat tapped it again into play to a teammate for an interception.
Arizona finally gained 31-24 in an enormous upset. It was what Rodriguez stated was the closest he’s ever come to an ideal sport.
“It was the cleanest game,” Rodriguez stated this summer season.
There was additionally the ranked win over No. 3 Virginia Tech in 2003 when Rodriguez was at WVU. The Mountaineers rolled the Hokies 28-7. Running again Quincy Wilson ran 33 occasions for 178 yards and scored a landing.
“I was really proud of the way our young men played,” Rodriguez stated again in 2003.
There have been loads of massive losses after the bye, too.
Along with the win in 2003, Rodriguez additionally misplaced to No. 2 Miami after a bye. It was shut and WVU got here again down 19-10. Miami’s Jon Peattie hit a 23-yarder to win the sport with 11 seconds to play. It was unlucky. There was additionally the upset the following 12 months to Pitt in the Backyard Brawl, and the 2006 loss to No. 5 Louisville.
Rodriguez confronted a few matchups after the bye and doesn’t have the strongest report. He’s 4-4 in ranked video games.
It all is determined by the place Rodriguez was when he coached in these ranked video games and the successful share after the bye generally. Rodriguez had no ranked video games at Jacksonville State, however he was an ideal 6-0.
At Arizona, Rodriguez misplaced to No. 16 Washington and was 4-3 off the bye. Michigan had his worst bye report as a result of it wasn’t there lengthy and confronted the high-caliber Big Ten opponents. He was 1-1, however had a ranked win over No. 9 Wisconsin in 2008.
Other than Jacksonville State, Rodriguez had his finest report at West Virginia of 10-4 report. IN his remaining season at WVU, he was an ideal 2-0 with wins over Louisville and Mississippi State. It appears Rodriguez was most comfy and knew the right way to get his gamers prepared in Morgantown.
In his second stint, it’ll be fascinating if it carries over. Rodriguez’s first take a look at off the bye is in opposition to UCF, a winnable sport in opposition to a program in an analogous state of affairs with an previous head coach returning, making an attempt to duplicate the success from the first time with the program.
We’ll see if Rodriguez’s success out of the bye carries over into 2025 and a brand new period of school soccer.