File photo WVU and head coach Rich Rodriguez begin spring drills on Saturday.

MORGANTOWN — Rich Rodriguez named Larry Knight as West Virginia football’s edges/pass rusher specialist on Jan. 12. 36 days later, Georgia announced it hired Knight to be its new outside linebackers coach.

What happened?

“He got offered by Georgia,” Rodriguez said.

There was obviously a bit more than just that. Knight is from Georgia, so he’d be getting closer to home. Rodriguez also said Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart actually called Rodriguez before he took Knight from his staff, which coaches aren’t obligated to do.

“I think [Knight]’s a pretty good coach,” Rodriguez said. “But hell, I don’t know. He was only here a couple of weeks. I don’t think he ever got out of the hotel. He ate a few meals, had a couple of meetings with him, and next thing you know, he’s down in Athens.”

This is just the reality of being a head coach in college football. Part of the offseason, with the transfer portal, is recruiting your players to stay, and it’s also recruiting your coaches to stay, too. It’s even harder when it felt like every school fired its coach in 2025, including a lot of major programs, like Michigan, LSU, Penn State and Florida. This created a domino effect, and the new head coaches poached from established staffs to fill their assistant coaching positions.

Knight wasn’t the only staffing change Rodriguez made this offseason. Running backs coach Larry Porter took a job with Auburn under new head coach Alex Golesh, offensive line coach Jack Bicknell’s contract wasn’t renewed, and bandit coach Jeff Casteel retired. Not including other staffing hires, Rodriguez had to fill three position coaches. Then an extra, after Knight left. Maintaining a coaching staff after each year has always been hard.

“That’s always been an issue,” Rodriguez said. “We don’t have a lot of coaches on multi-year deals. Sometimes, they get offered a lot of money and go somewhere.”

After Rodriguez was hired in December, later in the cycle, it was a bit harder to solidify a coaching staff, and things might not have worked out, like with Rodriguez and Bicknell. In Year 2, Rodriguez has started to build his long-term coaching staff.

In place of Bicknell, Rodriguez hired long-time Mountaineer offensive line coach Rick Trickett, who was previously at Jacksonville State. Trickett coached with Rodriguez in the early 2000s when Rodriguez was first in Morgantown. Rodriguez also hired Chance Trickett, and Travis Trickett was already on staff as the offensive assistant.

“Rick’s wife called me up and said, ‘Where’s my job?'” Rodriguez said. “Rick, we’ve worked together a lot. I think he’s the preeminent offensive line coach in college football, and has been for a long, long time.”

Rodriguez wants to make his staff have a “family feel.” He’s hired people he’s familiar with, including a bunch of his former players, like Pat White, hired his son, Rhett, as the quarterbacks coach, and almost all the Tricketts are on staff. This makes it a more comfortable atmosphere to coach in, and when other schools come calling, it’s harder to leave. But, Rodriguez made clear he’s not just hiring people because of past or family relations. They’re all good at what they do.

No matter who you hire, the only true way to be happy is to put a winning product on the field. Last year, with a 4-8 record, WVU didn’t produce that. Rodriguez is hoping that as he irons out his staff, they’ll be closer to achieving that.

“I’m happy to be here in Morgantown, West Virginia,” Rodriguez said. “I think my staff is happy to be here. Our happiness is based on winning. When we are winning big, we’ll be happier. If you do win big and have success, then people will probably look at your player and look at your coaches, and that’s probably a good problem to have.”