Rich Rodriguez Sets Expectations for Season Prep, Needs More From Team

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – for any coach one day into the fall camp period, a man known for never being truly satisfied and a program trying to rebound after a 4-8 season, it’s also noteworthy based on where he said his expectations were entering the day.

“I didn’t think we had a great practice today,” said Rodriguez on Wednesday at the open of his first official press conference in months. He then consistently mentioned that the overall team wasn’t as conditioned as he hoped they would be, especially since he was able to bring the same group from spring with him into August, a luxury he did not enjoy last year.

Rodriguez said his players seemed to understand what to do, suggesting they are further ahead in their understanding of the system at this point compared to his 2025 group. But at the same time, he thought they would’ve been able to push their body further.

“My expectation is to be crisp on the first day of practice, but my expectations were too high.”

Now 63, Rodriguez is more understanding and reasonable than he was during his first tenure two decades ago. Because he also said he understands he expects more than most coaches, and especially on offense, his tempo requires an extra level of discipline, too. It’s why Rodriguez would prefer to have some summer practices, meaning actually practice time in June instead of just training. Doing so would be adapting more of an NFL offseason model, something Rodriguez has expressed being in favor of since his return to Morgantown and the major conference level in December, 2024.

“We should model as much about the NFL as we can. It makes sense to have kinda a pro model,” he offered as a response to a question about a possible change to college football’s offseason calendar.

To that end, Rodriguez knows there’s one aspect of the NFL he can’t adopt. As many NFL teams, most notably the Pittsburgh Steelers under new head coach Mike McCarthy, are moving away from tackling in training camp, Rodriguez still feels it has to be an aspect of his team’s work. Rodriguez’s differing mindset comes from college football not having legitimate exhibition preseason games like the NFL. That said, he does plan to vamp back the amount of tackling and go easier on his defense than in years past.

Unwilling to give much of an assessment one practice in, Rodriguez likes the overall make up of his team and is striving to prove doubters wrong and transform the Mountaineers into a true contender again. He knows there’s not much time to figure it all out before fully shifting the focus to Coastal Carolina and kicking off the 2026 season at home on Sept. 5. “We gotta develop this team in the next two weeks.”