 On November 21, 2011, Arizona announced the hiring of Rich Rodriguez, at that time a CBS Sports college football analyst and formerly the head coach at Michigan and West Virginia, to replace Stoops.Rodriguez is considered a pioneer of a no huddle, run-oriented version of the spread offense, although a pass-first version was already being implemented by others.Rodriguez' hiring ended a 41-day search for a head coach which started following Mike Stoops' dismissal after eight seasons as Wildcat head coach.