Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia’s native son, returns home
How did your country report this? Share your view in the comments.
Diverging Reports Breakdown
Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia’s native son, returns home
Rich Rodriguez left West Virginia for Michigan 17 years ago in a messy divorce. The town of Grant Town, West Virginia, vandalized the original, more grandiose sign that marks his birthplace. Now, at the town’s eastern entrance, along Paw Paw Creek Road, is a reminder of this tiny municipality’s most famous native son. “They took that son of a bitch down,” he says with a laugh, “and then they put it back up!” “When it works, it’ll be one of the all-time great redemption stories,” athletic director Wren Baker said. “It was a mistake to leave,” Rodriguez says in an extended interview with Yahoo Sports in his office. “I shouldn’t have left,” he adds, “I should have gone back to West Virginia.” “The U.S. Open” begins Sunday and features a $90 million purse, by far the largest in tennis history and a 20% increase over last year’s ($75 million) The main draw includes a record $5 million for the men’s and women’s singles’s champions.
🏈 How Rich Rod made his way back home
(Bruno Rouby/Yahoo Sports)
Rich Rodriguez beats a punching bag each morning, eats ketchup on his steak and plans to resurrect WVU by teaching a “soft” generation a hard edge. Once vilified by his own people, the native son has returned home.
Advertisement
Advertisement Advertisement
From Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger:
In January, at the request of the townsfolk in Grant Town, West Virginia, Charlie Rosic found himself digging for a street sign in the city’s storage room.
Buried beneath some boxes and covered in dust from more than a decade of abandonment, the town’s mayor successfully unearthed the relic. The sign is simple and small, about only 18 inches across. In green font against a white backdrop, four words scrawl across its face.
HOME OF RICH RODRIGUEZ
No picture. No message. Not even a punctuation or nifty design.
Perhaps it is more than enough that the sign has reappeared at all. In 2007, after Rich Rodriguez left West Virginia for Michigan, the folks here vandalized the original, more grandiose sign that marks his birthplace.
Advertisement
Advertisement Advertisement
“They tore it down and destroyed it. We don’t know who did it or where it is,” Rosic said. “When Mr. Rodriguez left in his midnight runaway, there was a bunch of people mad at him.”
Earlier this year, Rosic, like any good mayor, followed the instruction of his constituents: They wanted the smaller sign restored to its rightful place upon the rehiring of Rodriguez last December in Morgantown.
Now, at the town’s eastern entrance, along Paw Paw Creek Road, is a reminder of this tiny municipality’s most famous native son.
And, yes, Rich Rodriguez himself has heard the news. “They took that son of a bitch down,” he says with a laugh, “and then they put it back up!”
Advertisement
Advertisement Advertisement
Welcome home, Rich Rod.
He’s back, returning to a place he left some 17 years ago in a messy divorce that featured dueling lawsuits, hurt feelings, broken promises and, now years later, public acknowledgements of regret.
Time heals wounds — at least most of them. Grant Town’s restoration of that sign is emblematic of a state that has forgiven, but not forgotten — something Rodriguez has learned in the first nine months back.
During spring speaking engagements and summer tours across the state, he’s made clear at least one thing. “It was a mistake to leave,” he says in an extended interview with Yahoo Sports in his office. “I shouldn’t have left.”
Advertisement
Advertisement Advertisement
This is a love story gone bad — a man who felt unfairly vilified by his own people; a people who felt cruelly betrayed by a man. Seventeen years later, they are reunited, both seeking the same successful results as their previous time together.
“When it works, it’ll be one of the all-time great redemption stories,” athletic director Wren Baker said.
Keep reading.
📸 Photos of the week
(Ishika Samant/Getty Images)
East Rutherford, N.J. — The Giants’ trio of backup QBs looked great in Thursday’s 42-10 win over the Patriots. Tommy DeVito, Jaxson Dart and Jameis Winston tossed a combined 5 TDs and the G-Men finished preseason undefeated.
(Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)
Denver — Shohei Ohtani warms up before a game at Coors Field.
(Deng Daoli/VCG via Getty Images)
Zhangjiajie, China — Luxembourg’s Archie Williams competes during Wednesday’s “Slackline King” Championship, where he bested 19 competitors from around the globe to win the title.
(Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)
Belgrade, Serbia — Nikola Jokić and Serbia dominated Luka Dončić and Slovenia on Thursday in their final friendly before EuroBasket begins.
📊 By the numbers
Arthur Ashe Stadium during last year’s U.S. Open. (Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images)
🎾 $90 million
The 2025 U.S. Open — whose main draw begins Sunday — features a $90 million purse, by far the largest in tennis history and a 20% increase over last year’s ($75M). That includes a record $5 million each for the men’s and women’s singles champions.
Advertisement
Advertisement Advertisement
🏈 9 games
The SEC will adopt a nine-game conference schedule beginning in 2026, a long-awaited move that will bring it even with the Big Ten and Big 12 (and likely force the ACC to follow suit). The nine-game schedule will follow a “3-6” model, where each school plays three permanent opponents and six rotating opponents each year.
⚾️ 4 straight wins
Braves righty Hurston Waldrep is just the second rookie in MLB’s modern era (since 1901) to earn a win in each of his first four appearances of a season while allowing 1 run or fewer in each. The other? Fernando Valenzuela in 1981. The 23-year-old righty is 4-0 with a 0.73 ERA.
Advertisement
Advertisement Advertisement
🏀 44 points
Paige Bueckers erupted for 44 points on Wednesday on a ridiculous 17-21 from the field, including a perfect 4-4 from long range. She’s just the third rookie ever with a 40-point game (Cynthia Cooper, Candace Parker), and the first player in WNBA history to score 40 points on 80+ FG%.
📈 30.2%
Ken Griffey Jr. has not played in a game since May 2010. Outside of a recent appearance as a photographer working at the Masters, “The Kid” has not exactly been at the forefront of the zeitgeist. Yet, in 2025, Griffey’s card market is surging (up 30.2% over the last year) — and it is not clear why.
📺 Weekend watchlist
Last year’s season-opener in Dublin between FSU and Georgia Tech. (Ben McShane/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
🏈 Week 0 | Sat. 12-7:30pm ET
The college football season kicks off on Saturday with “Week 0,” which features four FBS matchups, headlined by the season-opener in Dublin, Ireland, between two ranked opponents.
Advertisement
Advertisement Advertisement
No. 17 Kansas State (-3) vs. No. 22 Iowa State (12pm, ESPN)
Fresno State (+12.5) at Kansas (6:30pm, Fox)
Sam Houston (+10.5) at Western Kentucky (7pm, CBSSN)
Stanford (+2.5) at Hawaii (7:30pm, CBS)
Go deeper: Best bets for Week 0
⛳️ Tour Championship | Fri-Sun, ESPN+/Peacock/Golf/NBC
Russell Henley (-9) leads after Round 1 at East Lake in the season finale. Right on his heels? Who else but Scottie Scheffler (-7).
🎾 U.S. Open | Sun. 11am, ABC/ESPN2
The 145th edition of the U.S. Open begins on Sunday in New York, where 256 men and women will compete in the season’s fourth and final Grand Slam.
⚾️ Rivalry Weekend | Fri-Sun, Prime/MLB/ESPN
Two huge rivalries headline this weekend’s MLB action, as the Yankees host the Red Sox on the east coast (Fri. 7pm, Prime; Sat 1pm, MLB; Sun. 7pm, ESPN) and the Padres host the Dodgers out west (Fri. 10pm, MLB; Sat. 8:40pm, FS1; Sun. 4pm, MLB).
Advertisement
Advertisement Advertisement
⚾️ LLWS | Sat-Sun, ABC
It all comes down to this. Chinese Taipei and Aruba play tomorrow for the international championship (12:30pm), followed by Connecticut vs. Nevada for the U.S. championship (3:30pm). Then, on Sunday, the winners face off in the grand finale (3pm).
🏁 Daytona International Speedway | Sat. 7:30pm, NBC
The last two playoff spots (of 16 total) are up for grabs entering the final race of the regular season, with Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman the likeliest drivers to claim them. For the other 20 drivers, only a victory in Daytona can get them into the postseason.
🥍 PLL, Quarterfinals | Sat. 6pm, ESPN+
The playoffs begin in Minneapolis, where the Philadelphia Waterdogs face the Maryland Whipsnakes in one quarterfinal (6pm) and the Carolina Chaos take on the California Redwoods in the other (8:30pm). The winners advance to next week’s semifinals, where the No. 1 seed Denver Outlaws and No. 2 seed New York Atlas await.
Advertisement
Advertisement Advertisement
More to watch:
🚴 Vuelta a España: Stages 1-2 (Sat-Sun, Peacock) … The season’s third and final Grand Tour.
🏈 NFL: Preseason Week 3 (Fri-Sun, CBS/NFL) … Final weekend.
🏀 WNBA: Lynx at Fever (Fri. 7:30pm, ION); Liberty at Dream (Sat. 2pm, CBS); Fever at Lynx (Sun. 7pm, CBSSN) … Caitlin Clark (groin, ankle) has missed the last 13 games and counting.
⚽️ Premier League: West Ham vs. Chelsea (Fri. 3pm, USA); Man City vs. Tottenham (Sat. 7:30am, USA) … Week 2.
⚽️ Bundesliga: Bayern Munich vs. RB Leipzig (Fri. 2:30pm, ESPN2) … Week 1.
⛳️ LIV: Michigan (Fri-Sun, Fox/FS1) … The season concludes with the Team Championship outside Detroit.
🏐 NCAA Volleyball: No. 1 Nebraska vs. No. 3 Pitt (Fri. 7pm, Fox) … The season-opening showcase features nine ranked teams, including the top three.
🏁 IndyCar: Milwaukee (Sun. 2pm, Fox) … Penultimate race of the season.
Full weekend slate.
🌹 NBA trivia
No other Bull will ever wear No. 1 again. (Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)
The Bulls will retire Derrick Rose’s jersey in a ceremony this January, the team announced Thursday.
Question: Rose is one of just two NBA players to win MVP in their age-22 season. Can you name the other?
Hint: 1968-69.
Answer at the bottom.
🛒 Shopping cart archery
(Giphy)
We’ve all had a little fun returning shopping carts after a trip to the store, right? You pack up the groceries, close the trunk, see the cart corral across the parking lot and let it fly. Well, a German game show called “Schlag den Star” turned it into a competition.
Trivia answer: Wes Unseld (Baltimore Bullets)
Advertisement
Advertisement Advertisement
We hope you enjoyed this edition of Yahoo Sports AM, our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.