MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Paul Rhoads has been in this position before, coming to Milan Puskar Stadium with a team with little to lose in what would be his final game of an extended coaching tenure at a school.
In 2007, Rhoads was wrapping up his eighth and final season as Pitt’s defensive coordinator when the 4-7 Panthers headed to play West Virginia in their season finale. Led by a masterful effort from Rhoads’ defense, Pitt famously toppled the heavily favored Mountaineers, 13-9, to keep its archrival out of the Bowl Championship Series national title game.
The situation in which he finds himself now isn’t completely analogous.