Nick Saban Explains His Role in WVU's Coaching Search & Why Rich Rod is the 'Right Guy'

West Virginia native Nick Saban assisted Wren Baker in the search for WVU's 36th head football coach.

William McLelland-Imagn Images

Whether he wanted it to be public or not, Nick Saban played a small part in helping West Virginia land on Rich Rodriguez as the head football coach.

WVU great Pat McAfee let the cat out of the bag a week or so ago during one of his shows on ESPN and had the G.O.A.T. of college football back on today just minutes ahead of Rodriguez's introductory press conference.

Saban explained his role in the search and why he believes Rodriguez is the right man for the job.

"West Virginia University has always been very important to me. I grew up there being a big-time Mountaineer fan. Biggest thing that happened to me was when my dad would take me to one Mountaineer game every fall and that never leaves you. I remember when I was a kid watching Jerry West play basketball. That never leaves you. My heart’s always been with West Virginia. I actually coached there for a couple of years, and I love the people in the state. I’m happy that Rich is back and I think he’ll do a great job there. Being a West Virginia person, grew up about six or seven miles from where I grew up. I’m glad that he came back. He had great success there in the past.”

“I think it’s probably the cumulative effect of a lot of years and experience that I have working with a lot of great coaches, but also watching coaches out there have success in terms of what their process is and what kind of principles and values they try to instill in their organization. I’ve always had a tremendous amount of respect for Rich. He came to visit us a couple times at Alabama when I was coaching there. Was helpful and beneficial to our staff. He’s a great mind. He was an innovator in the game. I mean, everybody does zone reads now like it’s nothing but he invented it. 

“I just talked to Wren a couple times about who was the best fit. Who was the best fit for West Virginia? It’s not just about coaching knowledge or what your record was in some other part of the country. How do you fit? How do you believe? How are you going to relate to the people? How are you going to be able to recruit the players you need to compete against the competition and dominate the competition? I think Rich is the right guy to do that.”

"Rich Rodriguez has a great mind and he's an innovator in the game..

I think he's great and he's the best fit for West Virginia" ~ Coach Saban #PMSLive https://t.co/Clxlq9BGFy pic.twitter.com/5wxtBhRxAt

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 13, 2024

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