West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez listens to a question during the Big 12 NCAA college football media day in Frisco, Texas, Wednesday, July 9, 2025.
West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez waves before speaking during the Big 12 NCAA college football media day in Frisco, Texas, Wednesday, July 9, 2025.
West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez speaks during the Big 12 NCAA college football media day in Frisco, Texas, Wednesday, July 9, 2025.
LM Otero - AP
West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez listens to a question during the Big 12 NCAA college football media day in Frisco, Texas, Wednesday, July 9, 2025.
LM Otero - AP
West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez waves before speaking during the Big 12 NCAA college football media day in Frisco, Texas, Wednesday, July 9, 2025.
Day two of Big 12 football media days brought West Virginia's contingent to The Star in Frisco, Texas, to face the wave of questions from the assembled press corps.
In his first year back with the Mountaineers after 17 seasons at other locales, WVU coach Rich Rodriguez was popular on Wednesday’s interview circuit. It’s the first time Rodriguez has been part of Big 12 media days, but he said he quickly felt comfortable again at West Virginia.
“Typically, it takes about six to nine months to get used to a new town, but this took six to nine minutes,†Rodriguez said with a smile when asked about his return to Morgantown. “We have a couple of new traffic circles in town, but outside of that, it’s been an easy transition.
“I feel like Forrest Gump. I’ve been to the desert and the bayou, but I’m back home now, and it’s been great. It’s good to come back to a place where you not only know you can win, but it’s also home.â€
Rodriguez’s Mountaineers contain a lot of new faces. His coaching staff is almost completely different than the one Neal Brown employed last year, and his roster has more than 70 players who weren’t at West Virginia in 2024.
“Half of those [new players] weren’t here in the spring,†said the coach, who is a 1985 WVU grad. “You get a little bit of knowledge in summer workouts, but not a whole lot. That’s why August camp is so important for us.
“You also have to make sure the culture is right; that’s first and foremost. Also, we have to evaluate right. All these new guys we brought in, we better have brought in guys who can play. I think we did.
“The one thing we wanted to make sure we did in our first year was establish the culture and environment we want. Coaches use that word [culture] all the time, but do they really adhere to it on a daily basis in everything they do? We are, and we’re doing that. The players have done a great job of buying into that. We’ll see what happens.â€
Other than a handful of players who followed Rodriguez from his previous coaching position at Jacksonville State, West Virginia’s newcomers are having to adapt to different schemes. Though things have changed in the 17 years since he left WVU, Mountaineers fans will recognize the basics of his power-spread offense, which includes running quarterbacks playing up-tempo.
“Some of the stuff is non-negotiable,†Rodriguez said of his changes over the years, “such as playing hard and not being soft. Tempo is always part of our deal. We may not go fast all the time, but we do want to control the tempo. We want a team that is in great condition in all three phases; that is part of it as well.
“Scheme-wise, I’m kind of a football savant. If I look on Twitter or see something on the Internet that can be implemented and is a great idea, and we can coach it, why not try it? At the same time, we always end up going back to our core and our base, which is, we’ll play with 11, including a quarterback who will run a little bit, and we’re going to play with tempo. And we’re going to play really, really hard all the time.â€
Rodriguez has turned his defense over to Zac Alley, who he knew from previously working with him at Louisiana-Monroe (2021) and Jacksonville State (2022-23).
“Zac did a great job for me,†Rodriguez said of his 30-year-old defensive coordinator. “I remember after we won our bowl game in our second year at Jax State. He came to me and said he had an offer to go to Oklahoma. I said, ‘Are you going to be the DC?’ ‘Yeah.’ 'Are you going to call the plays?’ ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘What are they paying you?’ He said, ‘Like $1.2 million.’ I said, ‘What are you waiting on? You better get on that plane!’
"Fast-forward to a year later, and I called him and said, ‘Hey, Zac, I’m in a different place now. Maybe I can compete with Oklahoma.’ It worked out great.
“He was the first key piece to me for how we wanted to build our defense. We built the staff and players from there. He’s a great young coach, and he’s doing a great job.â€
The Mountaineers won’t begin their full preseason camp until early August, and they open their regular season on Aug. 30 against Robert Morris, but in many regards, the Big 12 media days were the kickoff to the 2025 campaign.
