Arizona Set to Hire Rich Rodriguez: Report

Former Michigan and West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez is expected to be named Arizona's next football coach within the next 48 hours, according to multiple reports.

CBS Sports' Bruce Feldman first reported on Monday that Rodriguez would be the named the next Wildcats coach, while multiple other outlets, including The Associated Press, confirmed his report.

Rodriguez, who currently works as a college football analyst for CBS Sports, will take over a 3-8 Arizona squad next season. Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne fired Mike Stoops at midseason and has reportedly found Stoops' replacement.

The West Virginia native had a lot of success with his state school from 2001-2007, but created a lot of ill will when he left to coach at Michigan. His decision to leave the school came shortly after agreeing to a long-term commitment and resulted in Rodriguez and Michigan paying the university $2.5 million.

Despite leading the Mountaineers to two BCS bowls during his time there, he badly flamed out at Michigan in a short three-year stint.

Rodriguez dealt with NCAA rules violations of practice time, poor handling of big-time Michigan boosters, and most importantly -- failure to live up to extremely lofty expectations. Most expected Rodriguez to have a lot of success after running a high-powered offense in Morgantown, but his no-huddle, spread offense didn't suit the players that Lloyd Carr left him.

Rodriguez was eventually fired in January of 2011 -- finishing with the worst win percentage in Michigan coaching history -- and was replaced by Brady Hoke.

There were previous reports that Byrne met with ESPN analyst Urban Meyer and offered him the job, but Meyer has said that he just gave the athletic director some advice on potential candidates.

No contract details or press conference information has been released at this time. The school closed practice and disallowed all player interviews to the media on Monday night.