Rich Rodriguez trusts evaluation, culture in building West Virginia roster
West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez didn’t plan to add over 70-transfers to the football roster this off-season.
But that’s exactly what unfolded as the Mountaineers experienced even more turnover than initially expected once Rodriguez arrived in Morgantown.
“It was more than we kind of expected but at the same time I don’t think we panicked,” he said.
That made evaluation a critical component when it comes to putting those pieces in place.
“Did we evaluate right? All these new guys that come in you better make sure you evaluated right and these guys can play. I think we did, now we’ll know for sure,” he said.
But perhaps even more important than that was in the realm of cultivating the correct culture and environment. Rodriguez has placed a strong emphasis on finding those players that fit the hard-edge mentality and toughness that he wants from his teams at all times.
“The one thing we were adamant on was whether we bring in 70 new guys like this year or 25 next year or 30 next year, the culture and environment has to be stable in the way we want to do it,” Rodriguez said. “And that’s why we feel good about it.”
Rodriguez pointed out his experience of building rosters in this new era at Jacksonville State where he added over 60-players last season. While that team took a little longer to get going, they eventually won the Conference USA Championship.
“We’re hoping the same thing happens,” he said.
It’s all part of a process for Rodriguez who has placed an emphasis on learning from the past and continuing to improve as a head coach at every junction. Every decision that Rodriguez has made is with the focus on whether it helps the West Virginia program win.
And that doesn’t just extend to the roster either, that’s the rest of the coaches and himself.
“If I have to do something better than I did a week ago then a year ago and if it’s going to help us win I have to follow that,” Rodriguez said.
The game of college football continues to change and the challenge for coaches is to continue to adapt. The veteran head coach believes that the changes with revenue sharing and caps will help to even the playing field some but ultimately his love of coaching boils down to helping players improve.
It’s a passion Rodriguez discovered early in his career and it remains just as strong.
“I also love coaching guys and seeing guys go from what level they’re at right now to another level and watching them grow as players and helping them along the way. That’s still my greatest thrill. There’s nothing like a winning locker room in football because there’s so many people that did so much in order to have success. In that winning locker room you see people hugging each other and high-fiving each other and that’s kind of a thrill that keeps me going,” he said.
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