After a rough start to the 2025 season, including a loss to Ohio, Rich Rodriguez and his West Virginia football team responded in a big way, defeating Pitt, one of the Mountaineers’ biggest rivals, on Saturday. The win left Rodriguez visibly emotional, and the longtime head coach recently explained why it meant so much to him, while also providing context for a bizarre formation he ran during the victory over Pitt.
Rich Rodriguez Explains Emotions After West Virginia’s Win Over Pitt and Bizarre Formation
Not many people have been coaching college football for as long as Rodriguez. The Mountaineers head coach began his coaching career as a staff assistant for West Virginia in 1985, shortly after he wrapped up his playing career there.
In 2001, after stops as an offensive coordinator at Tulane and Clemson, Rodriguez became West Virginia’s head coach, a position he held until leaving in 2007 for the same role at Michigan.
After additional head coaching gigs at Arizona and Jacksonville State, he finally returned to West Virginia this offseason to lead the program once again, 17 years after he left. Rodriguez opened the 2025 season with a dominating 45-3 win over Robert Morris, but suffered a heartbreaking 17-10 loss to Ohio.
However, his team bounced back, securing a 31-24 overtime victory over Pitt, a win that left Rodriguez visibly emotional. On the “Pat McAfee Show,” Rodriguez revealed that he hadn’t realized he was showing so much emotion but attributed it to a few factors that made the win especially meaningful.
“I didn’t realize until after the game how emotional I was..
It was the combination of so many things and it was such an important game for us” @RealCoachRod #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/RuBRo6jAxX
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) September 16, 2025
“I didn’t realize until after I watched some clips of afterward that I was a lot more emotional than you’d think after 300-some games as a head coach,” Rodriguez said. He later added, “I just think it was a combination of a lot of stuff. It was being gone for 17 years, seeing what everybody put into this program.”
It’s understandable why Rodriguez was overcome with emotion, as he is not only back at the school that gave him his first Division I head coaching role but also at the school where he graduated from and played football.
Defeating Pitt was a memorable moment for both the head coach and the Mountaineers. During the game, Rodriguez employed a unique formation featuring nine blockers, a quarterback, and a running back.
This might be the greatest formation I’ve ever seen. 9 offensive lineman!!! #wvu pic.twitter.com/DHjPe3bieJ
— Donald Butcher (@DonaldButcher) September 14, 2025
When asked about it on the “Pat McAfee Show,” he explained that he had used a similar formation at Jacksonville State and thought it would be effective given the size of some of his players.
“We had 3,000 pounds of beef on that play..
The formation is called heavy” 😂😂@RealCoachRod #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/Qy9OMRWdO7
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) September 16, 2025
“We had like 3,000 pounds of beef going in,” Rodriguez said. “We actually did something similar the last couple of years at Jax [Jacksonville] State, but I got one lineman, Donovan Haslam, he’s two cheeseburgers away from 400, and another linebacker who’s a cheeseburger away from 350.”
It’s a hilarious explanation, and the formation proved effective, as it was used on the game-winning play for West Virginia’s overtime victory over Pitt.
It’s great to see Rodriguez back in Morgantown. It’s clear the head coach is soaking up every moment and thoroughly enjoying being the leader of West Virginia football once again.
