[1] A native of Grant Town, West Virginia,[2][3][4][5][6] Rodriguez graduated from North Marion High School in 1981 where he played four sports and was an all-state football and basketball player.

During the 1985 season, Rodriguez was a student assistant under head coach Don Nehlen and graduated with a physical education degree.

[9][10] On November 26, 2000, WVU's athletic department announced that Rodriguez would again return to West Virginia, this time as head coach to replace the retiring Don Nehlen.

He also received the 2003 Frank Loria Award from the West Virginia chapter of the National Football Foundation, and also earned Big East Coach of the Year that season.

In 2005, Rodriguez and the Mountaineers won the Big East title with freshman tandem Steve Slaton and Patrick White, thus claiming the conference's automatic berth in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), where they defeated the Georgia Bulldogs in the Nokia Sugar Bowl and a final Associated Press ranking of fifth, tying the highest in school history (other in 1988).

West Virginia dropped to #12 and #13 in the AP and Coaches' poll, respectively, before rebounding with wins against Syracuse, Mississippi State, #25 Rutgers, Louisville, and #21 Cincinnati.

After the departure of Rodriguez, the Mountaineers went on to defeat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl under interim head coach Bill Stewart.

On December 16, 2007, Rodriguez informed players at West Virginia that he was leaving to succeed Lloyd Carr as University of Michigan head coach.

[15] Rodriguez's loss earlier that month to the unranked Pittsburgh Panthers eliminated WVU from national championship contention.

[18] The announcement of his departure came just four months after Rodriguez last renegotiated his contract with West Virginia and was made despite his stated long-term commitment to the Mountaineers.

[21] An Associated Press story indicated that Rodriguez's agent Mike Brown was threatening to take his client elsewhere early in the 2007 season.

He brought several members of his West Virginia staff with him, including Tony Gibson and offensive coordinator Calvin Magee.

[28] Michigan's losing record meant that the team did not play in a post-season bowl game for the first time in 33 years, the longest such streak in college football up to that point.

One of the few high points of the season came on September 27 when Michigan made the second-largest comeback in program history to defeat #9 Wisconsin 27–25 after trailing 19–0 late in the third quarter.

Justin Boren transferred from the program to rival Ohio State citing offensive behavior and a "lack of family values" from the coaching staff.

[33] Others have supported the assertion about a lack of family values, including Detroit Free Press writer Michael Rosenberg, who stated "Rodriguez's staff uses some of the foulest, most degrading language imaginable.

[35] Prior to the 2009 season several anonymous players told journalists (including Rosenberg) at the Detroit Free Press that Rodriguez and his coaching staff had habitually violated NCAA rules.

The alleged offenses included attending unofficial scrimmages and requiring players to work out more hours than NCAA rules permit for the off-season.

[41] This resulted in U-M self-imposing sanctions which including cutting practice time and either disciplining or terminating staff, as well as two years probation.

The final NCAA report downgraded the list of violations originally investigated, agreed with Michigan's self-imposed sanctions, but added an extra year of probation.

Michigan started the season off by notching a win over Connecticut, who eventually won a share of the Big East title and went on to represent the conference in a BCS bowl.

Their highest AP ranking, #18, came before recording their first loss of the season against 17-ranked in-state foe and eventual Big Ten co-champion Michigan State (part of a three-way tie).

School officials initially denied this, but the following day, athletic director Dave Brandon announced that Rodriguez had been dismissed.

"[49] In June 2011, Rodriguez put the family home in York Township, Michigan up for sale for an asking price of $1.9 million.

After compiling an 0–2 mark against in-state arch-rival Arizona State his first two years, Rodriguez's Wildcats defeated the Sun Devils, 42–35 in 2014 to win the Pac-12 South Division, the first divisional championship in program history.

The Wildcats advanced to the Pac-12 Football Championship Game at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, where they were defeated by their conference rivals, the Oregon Ducks, 51–13 (despite winning the regular season match-up).

In what turned out to be his final game at Arizona, he coached the Wildcats to a 38-35 loss against Purdue in the 2017 Foster Farms Bowl on December 27, 2017.

Rodriguez's former administrative assistant filed a multimillion-dollar claim accusing him of sexually harassing her and creating a hostile work environment for years.

[60] During Rodriguez’s tenure with the Gamecocks, he aided their transition from FCS to FBS, producing three nine-win seasons and two conference titles.

[63][64][65] He first developed this offensive approach at Glenville State and refined it during his stops at Tulane with Shaun King, at Clemson with Woodrow Dantzler, and at West Virginia most notably with dual-threat quarterback Pat White.