Rich Rodriguez Rants About Frustration With the Recent Weather

Striving to make his team the toughest in the country, Rich Rodriguez voiced some frustration with the recent weather.

Having coached in both the south and west, Rodriguez knows what it’s like to practice in brutal heat, and that’s not what his 2026 West Virginia Mountaineers have been dealing with in Morgantown. Instead of the usual temperatures ranging anywhere from 70-80 degrees, Rodriguez would instead prefer some like 90+ with extreme humidity.

He believes practicing in that type of “intense” weather would make his players tougher, explained an animated Rodriguez following a fall camp practice on Wednesday, August 19.

“I think it’s been easy to me. I don’t want to be soft so we try to make it hard. But we have had no heat, no humidity,” he complained. “It’s been 75 degrees, which has been beautiful. We haven’t had IVs and stuff. But I hope in the next week we have a practice that it’s 95 and humid and something happens in Morgantown, West Virginia and the humidity says, ‘I’m coming from the south and landing in Morgantown.’”

Of course, Rodriguez wanting his players to endure difficult conditions during practice falls in line with his “Hard Edge” mentality and the vibe of being tougher than every opponent he demands WVU conveys.

Find more coverage of Rich Rodriguez and the WVU football program at WV Sports Now.

For a related story, WVU director of athletics Wren Baker details why he’s expecting WVU to take a “step forward” in 2026.