Herbstreit tabs Rich Rodriguez as top coaching hire in Herbie Awards

Kirk Herbstreit has been doing his Herbie Awards for two decades, and once again, he put the spotlight on West Virginia.

During ESPN’s College GameDay preseason edition, Herbstreit named Rich Rodriguez the best head coaching hire of the offseason.

“We know what Rich Rod is going to do,” Herbstreit said. “He’s going to be a lot of fun. And, boy, they got a huge game in Week 3. They need to beat Ohio early, but Week 3, the Backyard Brawl against Pitt at home,I can only imagine what that scene will be like.”

Herbstreit added that while other big names were available, including Bill Belichick, he wanted to highlight what West Virginia did by bringing back Rodriguez.

“I’m just so fired up. It would have been easy to pick Bill Belichick, obviously, but I think just throwing some attention to what they did in West Virginia is very, very deserving.”

Rodriguez, who returned to Morgantown after stints at Michigan, Arizona, and Jacksonville State, has already injected energy into the Mountaineer program. Herbstreit clearly believes that the combination of familiarity and momentum makes him the top hire heading into 2025.

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