MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Mountaineer football is flipping the calendar back to 2007 with the resumption of the Rich Rodriguez era, getting underway tomorrow morning with the opening of fall training camp.

The football team Rodriguez is putting on the practice field Wednesday morning is dramatically different than the one Neal Brown had out there for last year's regular season finale at Texas Tech, a 52-15 Red Raider victory.

Rodriguez will be welcoming 72 newcomers, and that doesn't include four transfers yet to be cleared. Broken down, that's 25 January transfers, 28 post-spring transfers and 19 freshmen.

While it is going to take a while for West Virginia fans to remember all the new names and numbers, their football coach certainly needs no introduction.

His 190 career victories include 60 at WVU during a seven-season period from 2001-07 that is considered among the most successful in school history.

Eighteen years later, Rodriguez is back in hopes of picking up where he left off when his Mountaineer team was ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press and No. 1 in the USA Today/Coaches' polls on Nov. 25, 2007. It's the only time West Virginia has ever been ranked No. 1 in either major football poll in school history.

"Aside from the mind-blowing move of Bill Belichick to North Carolina, the most intriguing college football hire of the winter is the return of Rich Rodriguez to West Virginia," The Athletic's Bruce Feldman wrote last February.

Feldman's colleague Stewart Mandell's faith in humanity was renewed when West Virginia and Rodriguez kissed and made-up last December.

"The 2007 West Virginia Rich Rod split was the ugliest I've seen," he posted on X. "There was a lawsuit. The governor got involved. The cloud hung over his entire Michigan tenure. If (West Virginia and Rodriguez) can get back together, there's hope for anyone."

The biggest question West Virginia football fans from Weirton to Welch and from Martinsburg to Matewan want answered is can Rodriguez lead the Mountaineers to the same type of success at age 62 that he enjoyed here the first time when he was just 44?

Rodriguez believes he can.

"I've learned a whole lot in a week, let alone the last 17 years," he said earlier this month in Frisco, Texas. "They should be getting a better version of me and my staff, and I hope they will be getting a better version of our players, too."

There are a considerable number of sexagenarians still involved in the college game today, led by the 73-year-old Belichick.

Iowa's Kirk Ferentz recently turned 70, while Utah's Kyle Whittingham will celebrate his 66^th birthday later this season. Some others in this category include Temple's K.C. Keeler, Houston's Willie Fritz, Indiana's Curt Cignetti, LSU's Brian Kelly, Connecticut's Jim Mora Jr., Arkansas' Sam Pittman and Colorado State's Jay Norvell. 

West Virginians are familiar with two of the best coaches in college football history - both of whom enjoyed their greatest successes during the twilight years of their coaching careers.

Monongah's Nick Saban won his second national championship at Alabama in 2009 at age 58 and claimed five more while in his 60s – his last one coming at age 69 in 2020.

Bobby Bowden left West Virginia in 1975 at age 46 and was 64 when he won his first national championship at Florida State in 1993; then, he claimed his second at age 70 in 1999. Bowden remains the oldest first-time coach to win a title in NCAA history and is also the oldest to ever win one.

Bear Bryant captured his last two national championships at Alabama in 1978-79 after age 65 when most people consider retiring.

Don James was 58 when he won his first and only national title at Washington in 1991.

Nebraska's Tom Osborne's three national championships came at ages 56, 57 and 59.

Gene Stallings won his first and only national championship at age 57 while coaching at Alabama. Mack Brown and Les Miles won national titles while in their 50s.

So, perhaps 60 is the new 40?

"We're doing some of the same stuff, philosophically, what have you, from 20 years ago, but I also had to grow," Rodriguez pointed out. "I had to grow as a coach. I asked my staff to grow with me, the guys and the people that have been with me over the years.

"I think if you learn from everything, whether it's good or bad, you got a chance to win," he explained. "I say this all the time. Every decision I make now with the program is does it help us win? I've got to follow that."

The game has changed significantly since Rodriguez last worked on the West Virginia sidelines, but as he pointed out in Texas, it's still a game.

Name, Image and Likeness, transfer portal and revenue sharing weren't even concepts in college football back in those days.

"Hell, this is a lot easier than working in a coal mine or digging a ditch," he admitted. "You get frustrated because you can do everything right in recruiting and all that stuff and the guy just gets bought. That's just the way it is.

"But I've always loved coaching," he continued. "I started off at the Division II level and you're not taking a job for money or fame or anything like that. You're taking a job because you love coaching, you love being around athletics and I still love it.

"That's why I still call plays. I still get in the middle of everything that we do on offense, defense and special teams because I love the game, first off, but I also love coaching guys and seeing guys from what level they're at right now (advance) to another level and watching them grow as players," he said.

The thrill of a winning locker room has never changed for Rodriguez, whether it was as an 18-year-old freshman football player at West Virginia, a 30-year-old coach at Glenville State, a 44-year-old coach at WVU or today at age 62.

"There are so many people that did so much in order for you to have success, and that winning locker room you see everybody hugging each other and high fiving each other and all that kind of stuff. That's kind of the thrill that keeps me going," he said.

Today, tomorrow, next week or next month, Rich Rodriguez is consumed by one thing – how does he win the next play?

"I'm only worried about the first play against Robert Morris at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 30," he concluded.

The only thing different now than the last time he led a West Virginia football team out of the tunnel is the jog might be a little bit slower. 

His mind, however, is working faster than ever.