Pat McAfee Reveals His Message to Rich Rod Prior to Interviewing for WVU Job

Behind the scenes of the moments before Rich Rodriguez's interview with West Virginia.

Former West Virginia University specialist Pat McAfee / Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

Rich Rodriguez has mentioned several times already about wanting to "make it right" in regard to his return to West Virginia. He knows it was a nasty breakup 17 years ago and has been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to coach the Mountaineers again, although he knew the chances of that happening were slim to none.

He didn't need a pump-up speech heading into his interview with Wren Baker but former WVU kicker/punter Pat McAfee gave him one.

McAfee revealed what he said in that conversation during his live show from the WVU Coliseum on Friday afternoon.

“The day he was doing his interview with Wren Baker, I said listen, I need you to hear this before you talk to Wren. I think about that game every single day of my life. It is a thing that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get away from. I often wonder why it went the way it did. Why couldn’t I make a kick in the first quarter? Why? Why? Why? I said, the ability for me to come back and help and for you to lead the way would be nice for my conscious, it’d be nice for the weight that I carry around every day. I am fully committed to making West Virginia win again, Rich Rod’s fully committed, Ken Kendricks is fully committed. I know Bill Belichick down at UNC is certainly a sensational storyline…the best storyline in college football out of this hiring cycle is Rich Rodriguez coming home and making it right.”

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