There may not be a more important person in Alabama football history who technically has had zero affiliation with the university than Rich Rodriguez.
Rodriguez famously turned down the Alabama job in December of 2006 after initial reports had indicated that the Crimson Tide had hired Rodriguez to replace Mike Shula. In late 2006, Rodriguez was one of the brightest young coaches in college football, having led West Virginia to back-to-back Top 10 finishes in the AP Poll.
Then-Alabama Athletic Director Mal Moore offered Rodriguez the job due to internal pressure from the board of trustees. Moore had been rebuffed by Nick Saban early in the process. Moore preferred to wait to court Saban, but patience was wearing thin.
Rodriguez turned down the job a day after reports broke that he would be the next coach. A month later Moore landed Saban, and the rest was history. Saban went on to lead Alabama to perhaps the greatest run in college football history, winning six national championships in his 17 seasons as the Tide's head coach before retiring in January of last year.
Rodriguez spent one more season at West Virginia before taking over at Michigan. His tenure at Michigan was disastrous, producing a 15-22 record in three seasons before the Wolverines let him go. He likely would have suffered a similar fate at Alabama with the same massive philosophical changes and less patience in Tuscaloosa than Ann Arbor.
Who knows where Alabama would be right now. Saban likely would have returned to college football anyway, but at a different school. Maybe somewhere else in the SEC. Tennessee, perhaps? Auburn? He probably doesn't win six titles at either of those spots as Alabama and Saban were a perfect combination, but he probably still wins a few. And Alabama isn't the Alabama we know today.
Rodriguez knows that. He's had a sense of humor for years about that now. He shared with Josh Pate his opinion that he should have statue outside Bryant-Denny Stadium too, because it was his decision to turn the job down that produced the domino effect that brought Saban to Tuscaloosa in the first place:
Rich Rodriguez did end up in Alabama after all
The state of Alabama will also be important to Rodriguez. He turned down the Alabama job and that will follow him forever, particularly because of who the Tide landed instead. But after failing at Michigan and Arizona, Rodriguez wandered the coaching wilderness as an assistant before getting another shot as a head coach. It just so happened to be in the state of Alabama.
Rodriguez took over at Jacksonville State in 2022. In three seasons with the Gamecocks, he led them to a 27-10 overall record, oversaw the jump from FCS-to-FBS, and won two conference titles. His success at Jacksonville State led to a full-circle moment for the veteran ball coach.
Rodriguez is now back at West Virginia. The Mountaineers hired him after letting go of Neal Brown following the 2024 season. How his second tenure will go in Morgantown is anybody's guess. But we can confidently say that it won't produce another offer to be the head coach at Alabama.