Teary Eyed Pat McAfee Pays Tribute to His WVU Mentor Who Got Snubbed in Program’s HOF Announcement

Here’s a fun exercise: think of your top five contenders for winning the national championship. The names would be common, ranging from Texas, Ohio State, Clemson, Georgia, and maybe LSU or Penn State. But what if this list also has another lesser-known name? Someone like, say, West Virginia? As ridiculous as it may sound right now, during the 2005-2007 season , it was a regular thing for the program under Rich Rodriguez. Yet, despite that legacy, WVU chose Pat McAfee, Rodriguez’s pupil, over the current head coach for the big honor.

According to recent reports, WVU has announced its Hall of Fame inductees of the 2025 class, which include some quite illustrious names. The list includes Bill Kirelawich, a celebrated former WVU football coach; Bill Stewart, a former WVU head coach; and Chelsea Carrier-Eades, a former WVU track and field legend. Apart from them, the list also has Darrell Whitmore, the baseball legend; Petra Zublasing, the Italian shooting champion; and lastly, Pat McAfee. Despite Rodriguez not being named in the Hall of Fame, Pat McAfee had just one person to thank.

“Shed a tear when I got the news from my little brother and son of Coach Stew, Blaine Stewart…It was nice to have an opportunity to think back and reminisce about a great era of my life. I am so thankful for the recognition. This is normally something I would try and f—-g hate.. I’d say that it’s b—-t, and they feel obligated to do this, but this call made my soul feel good. Thanks for the opportunity to be a Mountaineer, Coach Rodriguez… it was an honor,” wrote Pat McAfee, thanking Rich Rodriguez on his X account after the announcement. Of course, the head coach played a vital role in McAfee’s career.

Before Pat McAfee started roasting teams and ripping up shirts in that press box, the guy was a regular college football player. Playing as a kicker/punter for the team, McAfee is still the all-time leader in career points scored (384) and PATs (210) and is third in total field goals (58) in WVU’s history. But that’s not it.

McAfee’s performance against Georgia in 2006, where he made all five PATs and a 27-yard field goal, is still remembered as one of the most notable upsets by the team. However, it wouldn’t have been possible without Rich Rodriguez, as he was the head coach of WVU from 2001 to 2007. However, it wasn’t always easy with Pat McAfee, according to Rodriguez.

Pat McAfee’s antics were as crazy as they could get under Rich Rodriguez

Rich Rodriguez is known for instilling discipline in his players, even if that means banning social media apps like TikTok in the locker room. It’s been the approach even in the first stint and has still been as Rodriguez has arrived for a second stint in 2025. For instance, just recently, an incident was highlighted on the internet where Rodriguez was seen yelling at an equipment manager for slow ball spotting. But for McAfee, even the dark side of Rich Rodriguez didn’t affect him.

Rodriguez remembered how, at WVU, he had set specific curfew timings, and any player violating them was dealt with sternly. However, McAfee, being the way he is, still didn’t care much and continued to violate it, despite Rodriguez’s warning him. “I said, listen, I know you miss Curfew. I am going to bust your a__, but here’s what’s going to happen if you don’t miss any kicks, alright? During the games, I won’t check curfew anymore, but if you start missing kicks and be terrible at punting, your a__ is mine, right? So, he (McAfee) said, I got you, coach. He was pretty well the whole year,” said Rodriguez about McAfee.

Of course, McAfee didn’t falter in his kicks, and his infractions were ignored. That is probably the reason we get his unfiltered announcements from the press. His dedication to WVU is constantly seen with him hyping up recruits for WVU or creating off-field hype for his old mentor. All in all, it can be said that the HOF honor is well deserved for McAfee, and Rich Rodriguez would probably be getting one himself sooner.