Former Michigan and Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez hired as Louisana-Monroe offensive coordinator

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Rich Rodriguez is heading to Monroe, Louisiana.

Louisiana-Monroe announced Tuesday that the former West Virginia, Michigan and Arizona coach would be the school’s new offensive coordinator. Rodriguez joins Terry Bowden’s staff after the former Akron coach and son of legendary Florida State coach Bobby Bowden was hired this offseason.

Rhett Rodriguez, Rich’s son, will also be transferring to ULM. Rhett has been a quarterback at Arizona for the past four seasons.

Rodriguez was most recently the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss. He worked for the Rebels in 2019 before Matt Luke and his staff were fired at the end of the season.

Rodriguez’s spread read option offense took the college football world by storm in the 2000s. He had three consecutive seasons of 10 wins or more at West Virginia from 2005-07 and parlayed that success into becoming Lloyd Carr’s successor at Michigan.

His Michigan tenure wasn’t nearly as successful. The Wolverines had just one winning season in Rodriguez’s four seasons with the school and that came in his final year when Michigan went 7-6 and lost the Gator Bowl.

Rodriguez was hired at Arizona in 2012 and the Wildcats won 26 games in his first three seasons with the school. But Arizona won just 17 games over his final three seasons in Tucson and Rodriguez’s tenure ended with a 7-6 campaign in 2017 and a loss in the Foster Farms Bowl.

Louisiana-Monroe is in the middle of a serious rebuilding project and hopes that Bowden, Rodriguez and its other coaches can help lead the program back to success. ULM went 0-10 in 2020 and hasn’t had a winning season since 2012.

Rich Rodriguez talks during Mississippi's Media Day.
Rich Rodriguez was Ole Miss' offensive coordinator in 2019. (AP Photo/Thomas Graning, File)

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