Rich Rodriguez Calls Heckler at Introductory Press Conference a 'Pitt Fan'

West Virginia held its introductory press conference for head football coach Rich Rodriguez Friday afternoon and it was full of emotion, as you would expect.

Seventeen years after making the decision to leave his post at WVU, Rodriguez was able to return home to the state and program that he dearly loves. Given the way he exited for Michigan, not everyone was thrilled with the school's decision to bring him back. There is still a divide in the fan base and that may exist for a while.

Just as Rodriguez stepped to the podium, one "fan" stood up and began shouting things toward Rodriguez, and his wife, Rita, causing the rest of the WVU Coliseum to boo at the heckler. He would be escorted out by police, allowing the ceremony to continue.

This guy literally held up the presser to oppose rich. Escorted out by cops. lol rich rods response: Any other pitt fans can go ahead and leave pic.twitter.com/9sSnFujLh4
— EertoEarpodcast (@eertoearpodcast) December 13, 2024

Rodriguez handled the situation as well as he could have and even joked about it later on in his opening statement.

“I have grown and learned and gotten better. Everybody says you learn from your mistakes and you grow. I’ve tried to do that. Not just from 20 years ago or 17 years ago, but from seven years ago to seven days ago to seven minutes ago. When that Pitt fan yahoo’d up right there, my younger days, I would’ve wanted to jump off this podium and talk to him in person. I would’ve seen if he had a real had edge or a fake hard edge. My older, mature self would say, gosh, I’m blessed to have all you folks here. I’ll let you all take care of him.”

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