​Frisco, TX — West Virginia football coach Rich Rodriguez used his remarks at the Big 12 Conference media days on Wednesday to issue a public appeal for a return to more traditional, logically organized major college football, a landscape that has been upended by decades of conference expansion, contraction, and realignment from coast to coast. He framed his proposal during a news conference on July 8, 2024, suggesting a group of about 60 teams could come together, pool their television revenue, and divide into regional divisions that resemble a bygone era of college football, when leagues such as the Big East, Pac-12, Big 12, Southeastern Conference, and Atlantic Coast Conference were more regionally aligned.
“Can’t we all come together and shake hands and give each other a group hug and then have an Eastern regional and a South regional and a North regional, and then everybody share the money?” Rodriguez said. “And, you know, with this money for everybody, we all can get along, like 60 of us or so. I think that would be great. I don’t know. Did anybody else say that? Probably not. They might be afraid. Hell, I don’t care.”
Rodriguez, 63, spoke as his team prepared for a period without a highly anticipated Backyard Brawl against Pittsburgh, a game they would not play again until 2029. The teams have a long history together; Pitt remained in the ACC after leaving the Big East in 2013, while the Big East itself dissolved as realignment shifted members to the Pac-12, Big Ten, ACC, and other configurations. The broader realignment movement has seen major changes in regional leagues, such as the Pac-12 losing marquee West Coast schools in 2024 as some programs pursued more lucrative deals elsewhere in the Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC.
Meanwhile, Congress has been weighing the Protect College Sports Act, a bill that would authorize the pooling of television rights across more than 100 schools. The goal is to distribute revenue more broadly beyond the traditional power conferences and to spread the wealth across a wider swath of programs.
“I’m not speaking for anybody other than Coach Rod, that he would love for all the Power Four teams to come together, shake hands, and then, hey, let’s pick the biggest TV package in the history of TV packages,” Rodriguez said. “And then we could have Pitt, Virginia Tech and Penn State and Maryland and Cincinnati and maybe Virginia or North Carolina, one of those, all right there. And our fans could drive to it. You know, we have a rivalry every year, and everybody makes money. Nobody gets fired. Players did good.”
Rodriguez acknowledged that his plan might not gain traction in contemporary college sports, but he wanted to articulate the concept before time runs out. He has previously served as head coach at Michigan and Arizona, and his current remarks reflect a wish to simplify the landscape while ensuring stability and prosperity for a broad range of programs.
“Wouldn’t that be fun?” he asked. “Can we put that together? I’ve got all the athletic directors out there shaking their heads like I’m nuts. I’m just, I mean, this is, you know, I’ve got more time behind me than ahead of me. I want to just get this thing right before I leave.”