West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez wants to save college football. Here's his pitch:

FRISCO, TX − West Virginia football coach Rich Rodriguez made a public plea for some reason and logic to return to major college football after decades of conference expansion, contraction and realignment from coast to coast.

He made his pitch at his news conference at the annual Big 12 Conference media days here Wednesday, July 8. He proposes about 60 teams to come together, share their money and divide themselves into regional sections, sort of like how college football used to be with the former Big East, Pac-12, Big 12, Southeastern and Atlantic Coast Conferences.

“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.”

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Rodriguez, 63, made his comments in the context of his team not playing rival Pittsburgh in the Backyard Brawl again until 2029. They used to play regularly as independents and then members of the Big East before Pitt left to join the ACC in 2013. Since then, realignment has ripped apart regional leagues such as the Pac-12, which lost four marquee West Coast teams that left in 2024 to pursue more money in the Big Ten and others to the Big 12 and ACC.

Meanwhile, Congress is considering a bill, the Protect College Sports Act, that would allow the pooling of television rights between more than 100 schools. It aims to spread the wealth more beyond just two dominant leagues.

“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 noted his pitch might not fly in today’s world but wanted to throw it out there before it’s too late. He previously served as head coach at Michigan and Arizona.

“Wouldn’t that be fun?” he asked. “Can we put that together? I got all the (athletic directors) out there shaking their head like I’m nuts. I’m just, I mean, this is, you know, I got more time, a lot more time behind me than ahead of me. I want to just get this thing right before I leave.”

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com