Rich Rodriguez returns to West Virginia as head coach

Rich Rodriguez is returning to West Virginia for a second stint as head coach at his alma mater. Athletic director Wren Baker announced the hiring on Thursday, 17 years after Rodriguez made a hasty exit for what became a disastrous three-year experiment at Michigan.

New West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez admitted Friday that he made a mistake by leaving the Mountaineers for Michigan 17 years ago.

The university officially announced Thursday that Rich Rodriguez — who coached WVU to national prominence from 2001-07 — would return to lead the program again. He replaces Neal Brown, who was fired following the Mountaineers' regular-season-ending loss at Texas Tech.

The number 13-9 keeps coming back to haunt Rich Rodriguez. That was the score he lost by. Within a couple of days he was gone. Packed up and cleared out, walked out on his contract, on his team, on his state and gone to Michigan to coach, beginning a long downward slide that he now is trying to rebrand.