Arizona Hires Rich Rodriguez As New Head Coach

One year removed from failing to revive the football program in Ann Arbor, former Michigan and West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez will get another shot in Tucson. Last night on Twitter, University of Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne announced Rich-Rod as the next head coach of the Wildcats by linking a photo of Rodriguez with his family to a tweet, saying: "And the new Arizona football coach and his family is......."

Rodriguez became known as one of the best coaches in the nation during his time at West Virginia from 2001-2007, where he posted a 60-26 with four Big East regular season titles. He then moved on to Michigan from 2008-2010, but wasn't nearly as successful, going 15-22 overall and just 6-18 in Big Ten conference play.

Rodriguez came under fire at the end of his tenure at Michigan, when he was guilty of committing NCAA violations and caused the Wolverines to be placed on three years probation. Michigan avoided major penalties from the NCAA by mutually parting ways with Rich-Rod, who served as a CBS college football analyst this season.

This decision from Arizona comes just over a month after the school fired Mike Stoops as the head coach, who had led the Wildcats to a pathetic 1-5 start to the 2011 season. Byrne will officially introduce Rich-Rod as the new head coach in a news conference today on-campus in Tucson.