Jacksonville State football coach Rich Rodriguez has received a two-year contract extension through the 2030 season, it was announced Friday.

The 60-year-old Rodriguez is 18-6 in two seasons with the Gamecocks, including 9-4 in 2023. Jax State also won the New Orleans Bowl in its first season as an FBS program.

“We couldn’t be more excited that Coach Rodriguez is committed to Jacksonville State and continuing to lead our football program into this new era,” Jax State athletics director Greg Seitz said. “The growth of our program since the day he took over has been incredible, with a conference title in year one, the first bowl win by a transition team in history in year two and the opening of the Loring and Debbie White Football Complex this fall, it has never been a more exciting time to be a Gamecock.

“We can’t wait to see the heights that Coach takes this program to in the next eight years.”

Though he is only heading into his third season, Rodriguez is now the longest-tenured FBS head coach in the state of Alabama. Auburn’s Hugh Freeze and UAB’s Trent Dilfer are entering their second seasons on the job, while Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer, South Alabama’s Major Applewhite and Troy’s Gerad Parker are “rookies” in their current positions.

Terms of the contract extension were not disclosed, but Rodriguez was making $800,000 per year under an extension he signed last year. He is the sixth-winningest coach in major college football with 181 career wins in stops at Salem, Glenville State, West Virginia, Michigan, Arizona and Jax State.

The Gamecocks open the 2023 season at home Aug. 29 vs. Coastal Carolina.