Rich Rodriguez’s first three seasons as Arizona Wildcats head coach: By the Numbers

Three years ago, the Arizona Wildcats were coming off a 4-8 regular season record and their head coach was fired midway through the campaign.

On Nov. 21, 2011, UA athletic director Greg Byrne altered the course of Tucson football history by announcing via Twitter that he had hired former West Virginia and Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez to head up the program.

Three years later, the Arizona Wildcats are coming off their first-ever Pac-12 South title and are headed to their most prestigious bowl game in 21 years.

UA won eight games in each of Rodriguez’s first two seasons at the helm. This year, the No. 10 Wildcats will look for their 11th win of the season when they take on No. 20 Boise State in the VIZIO Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31 at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Rodriguez, the 2014 Pac-12 Coach of the Year, needed five years to turn West Virginia into a powerhouse program, leading the Mountaineers to three straight 11-win seasons from 2005-07.

He famously struggled to create the same success at Michigan from 2008-10, going just 15-22 overall. But his record in his first three years at UA suggests his time with the Wolverines was an anomaly.

What kind of effect has “RichRod” had in just three seasons in the Old Pueblo? Here’s what the numbers say:

.667

Rodriguez is 26-13 (a winning percentage of .667) during his time in Tucson. That percentage is much higher than his first three seasons at West Virginia (.541) or his only three years at Michigan (.405), and it’s the best for any head coach in his first three seasons at UA since Jim Young went 26-7 (.788) from 1973-75.

1

Rodriguez won his first Territorial Cup game in three tries with the Wildcats’ 42-35 win over Arizona State on Nov. 28. The win not only catapulted UA into the Fiesta Bowl; it allowed Rodriguez to avoid becoming the first Arizona head coach since Bob Weber in 1969-71 to lose each of his first three games to the Sun Devils.

3

On Dec. 31, the Wildcats will make their third-ever Fiesta Bowl appearance. Led by its “Desert Swarm” defense, UA defeated Miami (Fla.) 29-0 on Jan. 1, 1994. It remains the only shutout in the history of the Fiesta Bowl, which dates back to 1971. In 1979, the ‘Cats fell to Dan Marino and No. 10 Pittsburgh by a score of 16-10.

3 (part II)

Rodriguez’s success in Tucson has come with a different starting quarterback for each season.

In 2012, senior Matt Scott threw for 3,620 yards and 27 touchdowns while rushing for 506 yards and six TDs. Last season, senior B.J. Denker had 2,516 passing yards and 16 TDs while gaining 949 yards and 13 scores on the ground.

RichRod finally looks like he’ll have some longer-term stability at the position with freshman Anu Solomon, who has thrown 27 TDs and just seven interceptions this season, and whose 3,458 passing yards are just 282 short of the single-season freshman record set by UCLA’s Brett Hundley in 2012.

3 (part III)

RichRod’s Pac-12 Coach of the Year award was his third such conference honor. He was named Big East Coach of the Year in 2003 and 2005 when he led West Virginia to records of 8-5 and 11-1, respectively.

19

On Dec. 31, Rodriguez will lead UA to its 19th-ever bowl game. With a win, the Wildcats would move to .500 in their bowl history, as they are 8-9-1 all-time.

RichRod led the ‘Cats to back-to-back bowl wins in his first two seasons — a 49-48 win vs. Nevada in the New Mexico Bowl in 2012 and a 42-19 victory over Boston College in last season’s AdvoCare V100 Bowl.

30

Rodriguez is gradually turning Arizona into one of the nation’s best offensive teams, as the Wildcats are in the top 30 among all FBS squads in several key statistical categories this season: 26th in total offense per game (461.5), 27th in passing yards (277.7) and 28th in points (34.8).

1998

The Wildcats have won 10 games in a season for the first time since they went 12-1 and capped their season with a Holiday Bowl win over Nebraska in 1998.

5,103

Granted, Rodriguez inherited tailback Ka’Deem Carey from Mike Stoops and the previous UA coaching staff; but under RichRod’s guidance, Carey ran for 1,929 yards in 2012 and 1,885 yards in 2013 en route to breaking the Wildcats’ all-time rushing record set by Art Luppino in 1953-56.

Nick Wilson picked up where Carey left off this year, racking up 1,289 yards on the ground to set a freshman school record. That means Carey and Wilson combined for a ridiculous 5,103 rushing yards in Rodriguez’s first three years in Tucson.