Arizona Football: 5 reasons why Wildcats will struggle in 2017

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5. Rich Rodriguez has lost his coaching mojo

Let’s face it. There are plenty of reasons that Rich Rodriguez is on the hot seat in Tucson. Rodriguez just isn’t the same coach that he was at West Virginia or even before he got his first head coaching gig. The shine has worn off the offensive genius who first asserted himself by helping Tulane to an undefeated season in 1998.

That raises the question of why Rodriguez continues to coach. He turned West Virginia into a Big East powerhouse after arriving at his alma mater. He turned down the Alabama job in 2006 and seemed poised to be a lifer in Morgantown. Then Michigan called the following season, and Rodriguez bolted for the Big House.

Three ill-fitting years in the Big Ten yielded a forgettable 15-22 record as Lloyd Carr‘s successor. Even there, though, Rodriguez was not as bad a coach as the critiques would assert. He was run out of Ann Arbor despite improving the team’s record every season. Just as his systems were taking root, Rodriguez was fired despite returning the Wolverines to a bowl game in 2010.

Thus Rodriguez landed at Arizona, where he plateaued with a 10-win season in 2014 and has done little of note since. Is the 54-year-old still motivated to go through the day-to-day rigor of coaching in the college ranks?

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