Yesterday marked day two of spring practice for the football team, and Rich Rodriguez is establishing a new culture surrounding Mountaineer football. That culture seems to be resonating and sticking with his players quickly.
When overviewing their practice prior to the press conference, Rodriguez talked about what he saw from his team.
“We got better, I thought our guys worked pretty hard,” said Rodriguez. “A lot of evaluation still going on.”
This is a great sign for not only Mountaineer football fans but for the program as well. This kind of statement and recurring statements surrounding evaluation means the program is heading in the right direction.
In the Neal Brown era, there was not nearly as much attention to detail, evaluation, or even enthusiasm surrounding the spring training process. These statements made by Coach Rodriguez support the underlying culture and philosophy he promised to bring back to the West Virginia Football program, hard work.
When asked about his point of view on hard work and how hard work and abilities complement each other, Rodriguez gave valuable insight into what hard work means to him.
“I think playing hard, I think to me that is an ability as well,” said Rodriguez. “That to me is a certain type of ability.”
Rodriguez knows that despite having an incredible work ethic, you do need to have the right skill set to be on the field.
“We obviously want to have a certain skill set,” said Rodriguez. “You know, certain size, strength, speed, all that kind of stuff.”
Rodriguez continued, “The playing hard part, you hope, is a given.” However, that can only be the hope for any coach, that their players have a desired skillset as well as an impeccable work ethic.
“Sometimes they think their version of playing hard and coaches visions of playing hard is not the same,” said Rodriguez. “So we’re trying to make sure it’s the same.”
As the Mountaineers progress through spring practice and start preparing for the upcoming 2025-2026 season one thing is for certain. If a player is going to start on Rich Rodriguez’s football team, he better be on the same page as Coach Rodriguez, and he must be a hard worker.
