Pat McAfee Gives First Thoughts on Rich Rod's Return to WVU on In the Gun

West Virginia great Pat McAfee is stokes to see Rich Rodriguez back in Morgantown.

In the Gun podcas

When we first learned that Wren Baker was finalizing a deal to hire Rich Rodriguez as West Virginia's next head football coach, we got the entire In the Gun Podcast crew together to film a reaction episode.

At the last second, we thought, hey, let's see if Pat McAfee has a second to hop on. Owen Schmitt shot him a text, and five seconds later, boom! We've got McAfee's first thoughts on the news. A huge shoutout to Pat for taking 20 minutes or so to join us on short notice.

Below are some quotes from the episode, along with a link to the full show.

Pat's initial reaction/Getting WVU back to its winning ways

“I’m incredibly pumped for Coach Rod to finish his story. If he’s anything like me…and he and I think both received death threats over the way that 13-9 game ended, and the way that season ended, and it’s like for me, I think about it every single day still. Every day at some point it pops up. It’s a very heavy thing.

"Talking to Coach Rod for over the last couple weeks about if this is possible and I’m like hey man, I know your coaching resume doesn’t need it and I know you’re one of the greatest football coaches of all time regardless of what happens and what you’ve been able to do with Jacksonville State is fantastic, but I want to let you know that if I was able to help you and you go back and win there, the natty, then you would take a lot of weight off of my conscious. I think he feels the same exact way. If he’s anything like me, he still thinks about it every single f****** day. And I think he does. He wants to make it right. I think it’s one of the coolest things to ever happen, and I’m very thankful and pumped that Wren (Baker) made this decision.

“He’s done a lot of really great things for that university and I think he knows it’s not really talked about because of how it all ended. He really wants to go back and make it right, and I think it is going to be a very welcoming time...I’m really excited and I’m pumped for Coach Rod, man. I know deep down in his gut and his soul he wishes he could redo everything. And it’s like, now you got a chance. Here we go!”

Full episode

MORE STORIES FROM WEST VIRGINIA ON SI

Rich Rodriguez Press Conference Set + The Pat McAfee Show is Headed to Morgantown

Bruce Irvin Shows Interest in Returning to WVU Football

Between The Eers: The Return of Rich Rodriguez

WVU Booster Ken Kendrick Says Wren Baker Was Not 'Pressured' to Hire Rich Rod