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Moving Mountaineers: Jacksonville St. athletic director – ‘all he does is win’

MORGANTOWN — Midway through the summer, Rich Rodriguez was down in Jacksonville, Alabama, at lunch. Across from Rodriguez was Jacksonville State athletic director Greg Seitz, who just six months earlier, Rodriguez had told he was leaving to take the West Virginia head coach job.

“I just want to thank you because you helped me navigate FBS,” Seitz told Rodriguez. “You did as much for us as we did for you.”

In 2021, Seitz received an invitation for Jacksonville State to join Conference USA, bringing the Gamecocks from FCS to FBS. Seitz got the invite on a Wednesday, and nine days later on Friday, Jacksonville State announced it would be in the FBS.

“Once we got that invitation, we knew we had to get moving,” Seitz said.

It’s a big jump from FCS to FBS, and Seitz needed a big-time coach to navigate this new space. Head coach John Grass’ contract was expiring soon, so Seitz informed him, a week before the season ended, that they weren’t renewing his contract, allowing for enough time to find a new coach. After the final home game, Grass announced it was his last game.

Seitz and his president went searching. One of the candidates was Louisiana-Monroe offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez. Seitz reached out to Rodriguez’s agent, who was a mutual friend, about interviewing Rodriguez for their head coaching job. Rodriguez hopped on a couple of Zoom calls with Seitz, and Seitz already liked him. Seitz, the president of Jacksonville State, and the chair of the athletic committee, flew down to meet with him, and on the way back, they decided that Rodriguez was the guy to lead Jacksonville State to the FBS.

“This man would be perfect for us,” Seitz said on the plane.” Honestly, within the first 10 minutes, I was like, ‘oh, man, this guy.'”

What did Rodriguez tell Seitz to land the job?

“I feel like I still got some gas left in the tank, Greg,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez wanted to remain quiet about his new job offer because his son, Rhett Rodriguez, was playing in his final game at Louisiana-Monroe, but after, Rodriguez was announced as the head coach.

“When you looked at [Rodriguez], I think he’s been named Coach of the Year at every place he’s ever coached, and I think he’s had the Offensive Player of the Year,” Seitz said. “There was no doubt. His offense, he’s kind of the grandfather, kind of invented the spread offense. Just for me, to have the opportunity to hire a guy of his caliber at Jacksonville State really took us from a regional university to a national team. I mean, it gave us instant credibility at the FBS level.”

Instantly, Rodriguez got to work. Like what he’s doing at WVU now, Rodriguez first started off implementing his hard-nose culture into the system. Unlike most schools, like Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina or Georgia State, Rodriguez and Jacksonville State had immediate success.

In 2023, Jacksonville State went 9-4, and in the following season, the first year in FBS, Rodriguez led the Gamecocks to a 9-4 regular season and a bowl appearance. Jacksonville State gained national attention with games on ESPN and ESPN+ at times.

“All he does is win,” Seitz said. “He is one of the most competitive people that I’ve ever been around or worked around. I think that resonates with it. He gets so much out of all of his guys that all he’s ever known is winning and stuff. He’s not a fun guy to be around when he loses. He’ll be the first to admit that, too. At some point, he’s gonna lose a game in West Virginia and stuff, and that’s going to be miserable because he replays the game so much in his head.”

The national attention also caught the eyes of other schools, like West Virginia, which was looking for another head coach.

In some ways, this scenario played out a decade ago when Rodriguez brought WVU back into national relevance, and Michigan and Alabama were looking for a new coach. Rodriguez left WVU for the Michigan job after a nasty breakup, so would Rodriguez’s leaving Jacksonville State be a repeat of that?

Not this time around. Rodriguez notified Seitz and Jacksonville State immediately after West Virginia reached out. WVU athletic director Wren Baker called Seitz about the job, and the conversation went “great.”

“If we have a Power Four program coming after him, that means we’ve had success, and I’m okay with that,” Seitz said. “It’s better when a coach leaves you when it’s on their terms, instead of me having to say, ‘Hey, coach, it’s not going well.’ When I have to make the change, typically, you’re not having winning records or success on the field. I understand where we are at Jacksonville State, for those coaches. If they can better their staff and get an opportunity to go somewhere else, that means we both had success, and I may be okay with that.”

Rodriguez took the WVU job, but his relationship with Setiz remained. Rodriguez still has his house in Alabama and visits frequently.

This time around, Rodriguez handled leaving a job differently. Whether that was because he realized what he did at WVU was wrong the first time, or his relationship and love for Jacksonville were too strong to just walk away from.

It’d make sense that he finally learned after the decade-long journey through almost every coaching position imaginable, but who knows?

What’s known is that Rodriguez has another fan and supporter of his second tenure at WVU — Seitz, and Jacksonville State.

“I wish him nothing but the best,” Seitz said. “I’m just so happy for him and his family that he had an opportunity to go back home. Because a lot of people never get that chance, right? I think he’s going to win. I’ll be pulling for him every week. I hope he has tons of success up there.

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