Rich Rodriguez Says WVU Will Be Playing for a National Title in 5 Years — Can They?

Big things ahead for the West Virginia Mountaineers? Rich Rod thinks so.

West Virginia University head coach Rich Rodriguez | Christopher Hall – West Virginia on SI

In the sports world, it's a what have you done for me lately society? There is no patience, and fans want instant gratification. Winning is not easy, and the West Virginia fan base knows all about that, especially with the levels of struggles the last six years and change.

Everyone was on board with parting ways with Neal Brown, but hiring Rich Rodriguez to come back and try to right some wrongs was a controversial move. The administration was well aware of the possible ramifications, knowing that if Rich Rod wins, everyone will forgive and forget, but losing could backfire.

Patience...

West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Rich Rodriguez looks at plays during the first half of the game against Kansas Jayhawks at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Sept. 20, 2025. | Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

It's only five games into his second tenure, and there are already certain assumptions being made about what the future of this program will look like under his leadership. It's an extremely small sample size and one that doesn't necessarily paint the perfect picture of what's to come. This year is an anomaly. They won't be retooling the roster with 80+ new players every season and will be able to develop the majority of their players out of high school rather than trying to change much of what they learned somewhere else.

Rodriguez gave a message to the fans during his radio show on Monday night not necessarily begging for patience but letting folks know things will get much better, and soon.

"As much as we're still hopeful that there's a lot of games still out there for us to win and all that, it is a process, and we're working as hard as we can. I know what the hell I'm doing, so I take comfort in that. But I also understand the frustration, but there's nobody more frustrated than our players and coaches. You just got to let the process go on. We'll be better in a month than we are today. We'll be better in a year than we are today. We'll be a lot better in two years than we are today. And in five years, we're going to be playing for a national championship."

Is five years a realistic goal?

West Virginia University head coach Rich Rodriguez | Christopher Hall – West Virginia on SI

Playing for a national title? Maybe, but it's a tall ask, especially with the current landscape of college football. Bigger programs have money to spend, so you're going to have to have a team full of overachievers sprinkled in with a couple of stars for it to happen. Plus, playing for a national title is way more difficult to do now than it was back in 2007. Yes, there is more access with twelve teams involved as opposed to just two, but you have to win more games to do it. Over the course of the playoffs, the teams with more depth are going to come out on top the deeper you get, more often than not.

Reaching the playoffs by year five? Should absolutely be the goal. You may argue the timeline should be shorter than that, but by year five, you have a full high school recruiting cycle in the program, the majority of which have spent multiple years in Morgantown.

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