MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — When Rich Rodriguez last hosted a press conference inside the Milan Puskar Center, the current “team room” was years away from being constructed. The former and current head coach of the WVU football team spoke at length with media members Thursday, five days ahead of the start of official spring practice.
Back in 2007, when Rodriguez last led the Mountaineers, the terms transfer portal and name, image and likeness were not terms associated with the game of college football. As Rodriguez puts the pieces in place for his eighth team at WVU, the head coach detailed how spring football will look much different this year because of the new realities in the game.
“Because there is another portal period, the roster may be looking different in May,” Rodriguez said. “It is a little different challenge and a little different dynamics than previous years. But it is also kind of fun and exciting. I am looking forward to watching our guys compete and evaluating and seeing what we’ve got.
“I think every first-year coach will probably tell you that their first spring is the worst because you are still learning your players. Every spring after that becomes a little easier even with all the rosters. Like last year at Jax State, we had sixty new guys. With half the roster turning over, it was still easier because it was the third spring and the returning players knew how to do things.”
Across the nation, schools are either canceling or reimagining their annual spring football games due to the potential for players to be poached by other programs during the next portal window following spring drills.
“There is tampering and it is rampant. You don’t see tampering in the NFL because you’ll lose draft picks and you will get fined. In college, you don’t see anyone get in trouble for tampering,” Rodriguez said.
“I can see their point. I’ve got this guy that’s really good. If he goes out there and shows out and somebody offers him a half a million dollars and takes him from your program. If they don’t directly tamper, they’ll do it through a high school coach or do it through somebody in the community or through an agent or something.”
As a result, WVU’s spring game that is scheduled for April 5, has been dubbed the Gold-Blue Spring Showcase.
“There’s no question that we have thought about that from an ‘open’ standpoint. I want our fans to watch our players. But a true spring game where you see them show out, you are probably not going to have that. We’ll have some scrimmage and play a little bit of football but I am worried about it because there is not as much structure to keep the tampering away as there should be.”
In the fourteen practices that will precede the showcase, Rodriguez left the possibility open that quarterbacks may be subjected to some level of live tackling.
“We’re going to try to get our guys in that live situation without doing so much of it that you are beating them up or taking too much of an undue risk.”
Seven quarterbacks are currently listed on the WVU roster. The group is led by redshirt junior Nicco Marchiol. In 19 games over three seasons, Marchiol has accounted for eleven total touchdowns.
“I thought Nicco, in the opportunities that he played, played really well. I think it was the Arizona game and Cincinnati that I thought he played really well and had a great command about him. I am really pleased he is coming back.
“We think we’ve got good competition in that room. Of all the rooms, Nicco has some experience and some of our quarterbacks do too at other schools, but that’s probably one position I feel more comfortable with the talent that we have and those guys’ ability to learn and run our system. I think we are in good shape at the quarterback position with the guys we’ve got.”
With the likelihood of a 105-man roster limit coming into effect for the 2025 season, Rodriguez says a number of difficult decisions will have to be made prior to August.
“If they cut it down to 105, there’s going to be a lot of guys that get cut. That’s going to be really hard because a guy that does everything right and he is maybe not quite good enough to keep on your 105 but you want him on your roster. You have to cut him now.
“I wish that wasn’t the number. I am still hoping maybe that we can grandfather that in and eventually get to that number because there are going to be some really good players and really hard-working young men that we have to cut just to fit the roster size. That’s not going to be fun at all.”
A major component of roster retention is the expected creation of revenue sharing in addition to current NIL dollars. Rodriguez says that plan is already in place.
“You better have a little bit of a plan other than just grab bagging. Depending on what you have, but even at Jax State, we created a model of like an NFL roster. If this is the money that we have, this percentage goes to QB1, this percentage goes to left tackle No. 2, this percentage goes to corner No. 1.
“We are going to have kind of an ‘earned success model’ where if you are the starting left tackle after August camp, you are probably going to get more money than the scout team right tackle.”
Rodriguez confirmed that Chad Scott, who was rehired to join his staff, has accepted a position at the University of Texas. Rodriguez has recently welcomed notable alumni Noel Devine and Pat White into assistant coach roles.
“I didn’t hire them because of what they did in the 2000’s. I hired them for what they can do to help us right now. It is important that I am not just hiring a legacy guy because he is a legacy guy. I am hiring this guy because of what I think he can bring to our staff.
“And staffing is different now. There’s no limit on how many coaches you can have. You can have too many I am sure. But I’ve got a nice mix of some experienced guys where I need to have some experience and some young guys that are going to be really, really good coaches that are learning the craft and can be really good with our guys.”
The business model of college football has obviously changed significantly since Rodriguez’s first season leading the Mountaineers in 2001. However, that is not the only notable change in the game.
“Twenty-five years ago, you tell a player, ‘Run through that wall’. He’ll run through that wall and not say anything. Now they will still run through that wall, but they want to know why. And if you don’t give them the right answer, they will google it on their phone and they’ll say, ‘That ain’t what is says on google’.
“They are a lot smarter. Are they as mentally and physically tougher? I don’t know about that. Are they overall more entitled or feel more entitled? I think yes, but not all of them. I also think you can maybe coach some of that out of them.”
Nine weeks after being reintroduced to the WVU community in a press conference and welcome ceremony at the Coliseum, Rodriguez reiterated reasons he was asked to return after 17 years away from his home state.
“I didn’t get hired for nostalgia reasons. You know what I mean? I got hired to win. That’s why I am sitting here. It is not because they wanted to talk about 2003, 4, 5, 6 or 7, or whatever it is. I got hired because the expectation is to win. So we’re going to try to win.
“It is going to take a lot. Just because this old guy is sitting in this chair, I’m not going to snap my finger and we are going to win twelve games and be in the playoff. It doesn’t happen that way. We’ve got to have a lot of guys working really, really hard and coaches and staff members, players, fans, supporters.”