Rich Rodriguez on potential spring game vs. Alabama, Auburn: 'Give me a million dollars'
Rich Rodriguez would love to take Jacksonville State to Alabama or Auburn for a spring game against another opponent. It would just take $1 million to do it or around there.
Hugh Freeze and Nick Saban brought up the idea of playing a spring scrimmage against an in-state school at the very least. On the surface, it sounds like a good idea.
How it would come to fruition is another story, but Rodriguez likes the sound of it, so long as the school is compensated.
“Give me a million dollars, we’ll be down there in Tuscaloosa (or) Auburn, Alabama,” Rodriguez said. “And I think it’s good for charity too. But yeah, you could control a little bit, it’d be kind of fun But I’d like to get a little cash for that. You know, we got a lot of bills to pay. That new weight room and that new facility, maybe even $500,000 we’ll go down for a spring game. So I’m speaking at Alabama’s coaching clinic tomorrow, maybe I’ll bring that up with my buddy, the AD Greg Byrne.”
Like he said, charity is good. But sometimes it might take more than charity to get something like a spring scrimmage together between two different schools.
But Rodriguez coaching spring games against Alabama or Auburn? Sign us up.
Rodriguez took over Jacksonville State in 2022 after numerous stops following his days as Michigan’s head coach from 2008-10. He was the head coach at Arizona from 2012-17 and then an assistant with Ole Miss (2019) and Louisiana-Monroe (2021).
Rodriguez led Jacksonville State to a 9-2 record and ASUN Conference title last season.
Freeze’s proposal would include hosting a local in-state university for the annual spring game — all tickets and proceeds would be donated to an agreed upon charity. To him, it would help the Tigers get a look at how his team’s progressing, get real game-time reps against someone other than themselves and give the smaller school exposure they otherwise wouldn’t have at this point in the year.
“We’re always interested in helping people in any way that we can. If that’s the purpose of what they’re doing, that’s certainly a good thing,” Saban said about Freeze’s idea. “We try to do a lot of things to create opportunities for people in our foundation and will continue to do that. If there’s something along those lines in the spring game that would be helpful to somebody, I think it’s a great idea.”