MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia University football coach Rich Rodriguez spent six seasons coaching at the University of Arizona between his first and current stints leading the Mountaineers.
The Wildcats went 43-35 under his direction.
Saturday will be a first for the veteran coach. When Arizona comes to Morgantown on Saturday at noon for the Coal Rush-themed game on TNT and truTV, it'll be the first time in Rodriguez's career that he'll face one of his former programs.
He has also coached at Salem, Glenville State, Michigan and Jacksonville State.
"It's probably natural for a coach to have feelings. I have feelings about it, and I'll keep it to myself," Rodriguez said. "I enjoyed our time there. We had success. Bowl games in five out of the six years. Had some really good players and got some big ranked wins too.
"Daughter was captain of the cheerleading squad. My son was a quarterback there. There were some good times at Arizona."
Arizona's trip to the Mountain State will be its first, as well as just the second meeting between the Wildcats and Mountaineers.
The Wildcats are 4-1 overall and 1-1 in Big 12 Conference play. Their only loss came in their second game of the season to BYU, 28-17.
Arizona has since rattled off three consecutive victories, including a 34-7 throttling of Cincinnati last week.
Rodriguez's final season at Arizona came in 2017 in which he guided the Wildcats to a 7-6 record.
Arizona has had three coaches since Rodriguez, the latest being Brent Brennan, who is in his third season in Tucson, Arizona.
Brennan, after a 4-8 first year, guided Arizona to a 9-4 2025 campaign, capped with an appearance in the Holiday Bowl.
"Coach Brennan and his staff have done a great job," Rodriguez said. "They've got their program in the right spot, and they got good football players. They probably might be the best team we've played so far this year. It's going to be a great challenge.
"I want to think our guys are hungry to play and improve themselves."
Brennan, before arriving to Arizona, spent seven seasons at San Jose State.
Rodriguez's philosophy and ideology have rubbed off on coaches across the nation, dating back to his pioneering of the spread offense.
Brennan is excited to go toe-to-toe with Rodriguez, who has 197 career victories.
"He's a football guy and obviously a great coach," Brennan said. "He's won pretty much everywhere he has been. He's creative offensively. I remember watching those teams with Pat White at West Virginia and how different and fast it looked. He's always been really good to me and really, really friendly.
"I have a ton of respect for him. I listened to him speak at a clinic in spring of 2012, maybe in Oregon. He's incredibly entertaining. He brought the house down. But he also had a great way of communication and he was funny and captivated the room. I was super-impressed with him."
West Virginia's defense will be going against one of the Big 12's top quarterbacks in Arizona's Noah Fifita.
In two conference games, Fifita has thrown for 514 yards and three touchdowns. On the year, he's passed for 1,415 yards, 13 touchdowns and three interceptions.
Fifita is an ultra-rare quarterback case, as he's spent his whole college career at Arizona. He's accumulated more than 10,000 yards of offense and 90-plus touchdowns.
"He's a rarity in college football," Rodriguez said. "A guy that's been there five years, and he could've left, but he stayed there. Their coaching staff has done a great job with him. He's been the leader, not just this year but since he's been there.
"He's a very unique guy in that he can scramble around and create some vision for himself. His eyes are always downfield. He's one of the best in college football."
Arizona's defense has also been potent, especially against the run.
The Wildcats, in their two Big 12 contests, have allowed 111 rushing yards, holding Cincinnati to 74 rushing yards last weekend.
West Virginia's rushing attack is averaging 294 yards, which is No. 3 in Division I FBS.
WVU's 17 rushing touchdowns are tied for sixth in the nation.
That department will be critical as the Mountaineers look to keep the Wildcats' blitzers on their back foot.
"They are the blitz-happiest team that we've played since I've come back," Rodriguez said. "They'll bring it all the time. That's who they are. That's their identity defensively. They can make you look really bad. They create negative-yards plays.
"They'll bring them from everywhere, and they do a good job of timing it up and creating negative-yardage plays."
Saturday's game will be WVU's first of two straight at Milan Puskar Stadium, with next week's game coming against Cincinnati.
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