When Rich Rodriguez returned to Morgantown after 17 years, one familiar voice was already waiting for him with a microphone and a grin. That voice belonged to former WVU punter and ESPN star Pat McAfee, who did not just publicly celebrate his former head coach’s return. According to Rich Rod himself, McAfee was deeply involved behind the scenes before the move even became official.

“When the call came, it wasn’t like I don’t even remember if I even asked about the terms of the deal. I was like, ‘Okay, when is this going to happen, when you want me to start?'” Rich Rodriguez said yesterday on PSU alum Adam Breneman’s podcast. “Well, I said nothing else [because] I was keeping in touch with Pat [McAfee] too, and I made sure he knew. He might have known before me, but I [made] sure he knew that.”

The relationship between Coach Rodriguez and McAfee goes back to when the latter played at WVU from 2005 to 2007. Early during McAfee’s college career, Rodriguez realized he was coaching someone different. Rich Rod once joked that he stopped checking McAfee’s curfew because “as long as he would make those kicks and be good at punting, I was fine with it.”

That may sound funny now, but it also shows how much trust existed between them. And the WVU HC has repeatedly described McAfee as one of the hardest workers on those WVU teams. Something that helped him in his broadcasting career, too.

“Pat McAfee had that [hard-edge mentality] as a specialist, and he’s had it in his career, as a pro player and in his career with the media. Pat works his tail off; he’s going to outwork people, and he’s got that mentality, I’m going to be the best guy to analyze this that there is,” Rich Rod said last year after WVU’s first spring practice. “When we had success, whether it was here or wherever it was, it was because we had really good players that had that hard-edge mentality.”

A lesser-known story from their early days describes a recruiter who once told Rodriguez he did not even need to watch McAfee kick in person. He could supposedly “hear him kick” because of the sound the football made coming off his foot. Rich Rod later recalled that story to On3 while talking about recruiting McAfee to WVU. 

“Pat was, I believe, the first specialist that we ever put on scholarship before he enrolled,” Rodriguez recalled. “He was that good. But I can remember, they said, ‘Hey, you can come watch Pat kick. You can hear him kick.’ It was a certain thump. So, I can remember walking up. I said, ‘What the heck?’ That was him kicking the ball.” That player-coach relationship survived everything afterward, too. And there was a lot.

When Rodriguez left WVU for Michigan after the painful 2007 season, many fans never forgave him. The timing hurt even more because the Mountaineers had just missed a shot at playing for a national championship after losing the famous Backyard Brawl game (9-13) against Pitt. McAfee himself missed two field goals in that upset. But despite all those ups and downs, McAfee’s relationship with Rich Rod has stood like a mountain.

Pat McAfee finally found closure after WVU rehired Rich Rodriguez

For years, Rich Rod’s name divided the Mountaineers’ fanbase almost like politics at the Thanksgiving dinner. Some appreciated what he built. Others felt betrayed. McAfee never fully disconnected from him, though. In fact, before Rodriguez officially interviewed for the WVU opening in late 2024, McAfee personally called him with encouragement. The ESPN broadcaster later revealed that he told Rich Rod he needed to hear something before meeting with athletic director Wren Baker before deciding on that $3.7 million-per-year contract.

“The day he was doing his interview with Wren Baker, I said, ‘Listen, I need you to hear this before you talk to Wren,'” Pat McAfee said during his live show from WVU’s Coliseum last year. “I think about that game every single day of my life. It is a thing that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get away from. I said, the ability for me to come back and help and for you to lead the way would be nice for my conscience; it’d be nice for the weight that I carry around every day.”

That mattered because McAfee’s influence around WVU is enormous now. He is no longer just a former punter. He is one of ESPN’s biggest personalities, hosts one of the most-watched sports shows in America, and constantly uses his platform to promote West Virginia. That is probably why Rich Rod’s reunion with WVU felt different from a normal coaching hire.