Apparently that’s big news. Exclusive, even. I get it … I just don’t get it. Yeah, that’s a big name and, yeah, that’s a big interview — I don’t understand why he was on yesterday, but I gave up trying to figure certain things out a long time ago — but I really do wonder why people are so surprised, saddened or struck by this.

Anyone who thought WVU and Rich Rodriguez would never hold hands and walk across a bridge together in the future wasn’t being completely honest with themselves.

There were, and still are, emotions involved. Heavy ones, too, like anger and hate, so on and so forth. Yet if it’s impossible to separate the past with regard to the unseemly way he left WVU, it’s also impossible to separate the past with regard to what he did and meant for the football program, the school, the state and the people of each.

For a while now, I think both sides, whether together or, more likely, independently, have been talking themselves into burying the hatchet. Far easier for Rodriguez than WVU, but beneficial for both.

And let’s not lie to ourselves about this: He’s been around lately … and that may not matter as much as who he’s been around. Big East Tournament in WVU seats. Bridgeport for a golf outing. Morgantown as part of random visits to see family and old friend$ of the program. Sargasso with Dana Holgorsen. Clinic in Florida, where he again was seen with Dana Holgorsen. On the radio with good friend Jed Drenning. On and on …

You really think Rich Rodriguez — that Rich Rodriguez — gets on the Statewide Sportsline without some sort of a blessing from WVU?

I’ve said this before. We’ll all say it again: There are no accidents.

I also said I could make a compelling case for the return of Rodriguez. And I can.

Begin with the most obvious component: WVU has a new president and athletic director. The Board of Governors has fresh faces and leadership. The football program has a new leader, and at the minimum we can say Holgorsen may be mindful of what happened  in the past between WVU and Rodriguez, he’s not intimidated or ordered around by it.

A lot of the people who didn’t like one another years back — and that, we cannot forget, includes the governor, who is now a senator — are no longer in relevant positions.

So the interpersonal element is easier to navigate.

Secondly, they need to get over it. That’s not easy and it won’t be popular, but, at some point in time, it’s true. Each side owes it to itself and to the other. The lawsuit is done. The money is just about settled up. If nothing else, it sounds like Rodriguez has been humbled by football and by life since his exit and he does seem to at least know how to say the right things.

Whether he means and believes them is another matter.

But WVU gets a rap, a bad rap, for certain behaviors once described by a national radio host as those of a “crazy ex-girlfriend.” And we can agree there have been, shall we say, unusual stories surrounding the athletic department for many, many years. They’re not all WVU’s fault, but given all the conversations I’ve had with people who are so far removed form the situation, I gather people think WVU is athletically aloof.

And that’s neither true nor fair.

So here’s where things get crazy. I’m not endorsing this. I’m not saying it will happen — in fact, I’m quite certain it won’t, even though I know people in and around WVU, important people, want some sort of a reunion.

That said, what if Rich Rodriguez was the new offensive assistant coach? Would that be so terrible?

Allow me: The argument could be made this accelerates the reconciliation, and one I think both sides want. So why not now? He gets to come back and say his formal apologies. WVU gets to hug the Prodigal Son. It’s a nice photo, a neat story … and then it’s over. The whole thing. Past. Present. Over. We can stop talking and writing and worrying about it.

Let’s examine this job opening: Holgorsen isn’t hiring anyone who’s going to do something significant. He says he’ll continue to be the offensive coordinator and the quarterbacks coach and when he can’t be the latter that job will go to his graduate assistant, Jake Spavital.

A lot of people, myself included, believe Spavital was going to be the guy when the time was right, and that may still happen. But suppose it’s too soon. Say it happens next season.

Right now, given who is available, is someone out there better at the job than Rodriguez?

He might not be in a class of his own, but it doesn’t take long to take attendance. They don’t run the same offense, but there are principles the two systems share and Holgorsen told me he liked the X and O conversation he had with Rodriguez when they first met. There’s value in that relationship, if only for a year. Never mind Rodriguez knows the Pitt staff and the coach at Cincinnati, knows the recruiting demographics, knows the rubber chicken circuit.

Here’s the trick and quite likely the treat. It’s not a long-term position. WVU could take Rodriguez for a year. Rodriguez probably doesn’t think his next job will be a head coaching job. Even if he’s peeking at Clemson, which is the one scenario I hear again and again, that’s at least a year away. Why not get back in the game ASAP and, you know, improve your image?

One hand shakes the other here. WVU utilizes Rodriguez and Rodriguez utilizes WVU.

The fans? Well, in a weird way, they’ll sort of own the guy for a year, won’t they? At the very worse, since he still owes WVU money, he’ll be paying to coach here. You think about that.

They’ll see him as crawling back and working in a secondary — tertiary? — position and knowing there’s a certain shelf life before he’s gone again. And when he’s gone, it looks like the fans win again. If he gets a better job, be it as a head coach or a coordinator, don’t the fans think he owes it to WVU? If he gets fired (unlikely) or replaced (by Spavital?), then the fans have the last laugh.

You can laugh at me. Again, I’m not endorsing this — the first conversation he and I have will be … strange — and I know this won’t be popular. I don’t mind. I’m not asking that. I’m asking this: Is this a way for WVU to shore up multiple issues at once and come out looking better for it?

Plus, I’m stepping aside for a few days, which means one of two things: This will happen because I’m gone or, more likely, I don’t have to read the comments you leave in my absence.