Arizona Hires Head Coach Rich Rodriguez, Guarantees National Championship

By
Updated: November 23, 2011

Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic

You remember Rich Rodriguez right?  The head coach of the famed West Virginia team that featured Pat White and Steve Slaton who then flipped that season into getting the Michigan job only to be fired shortly after.  His wide open option system did wonders with Pat White at the helm but with Denard Robinson and Tate Forcier it looked a little less than magical.

Well now Rich Rod is taking his talents to the University of Arizona and is kind of, sort of guaranteeing a National Title as well.

On Tuesday, Rodriguez was back in charge of a football program. He said his choice to take the Arizona job boiled down to a few things — that the school is located in a college community, that Arizona has good academics and a good athletics program, and that the football team can be nationally competitive.

“When this opportunity came up, there were maybe some other opportunities that came up and they were really neat,” Rodriguez said. “For me, and making this hopefully my last stop, you have to go where you can win a national championship. I don’t mind saying it. That’s hard to do. That’s really hard to do…but you can win one here.”

Quick, no one remind Rich Rod that Arizona has not had double digit wins since 1998.