Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia look to take steps in year two
West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez is rather blunt when it comes to his general mood.
“I say my happiness is based on winning, so I’m pissed off right now,” Rodriguez told ESPN in a one-on-one Q&A with Pete Thamel.
But the coaching staff certainly took steps to try to course correct last season’s 4-8 campaign first through talent acquisition both from the transfer portal and high schools levels. The coaching staff not only had more time, but more funding to piece together what the roster was going to look like which wasn’t the case when Rodriguez was initially hired.
“This year we had the full rev share from the school and we had time to evaluate more. And so not that last year they were all bad players, but this year we could be a little more purposeful in what we got and what we needed and our approach going forward,” he said.
The veteran head coach said that he’s seen a difference and also backed that up with his comments throughout the course of spring football.
The Mountaineers elected to sign a significant chunk of freshmen to go along with 34 transfer additions but the main theme in each of the additions is finding that competitive level necessary.
“Some are ultra-competitive because they want to prove themselves. And that’s where we try to identify that ultra-competitive guy that maybe moved from here to here and he keeps moving up because he wants to try and prove himself at the highest level. And those are the kind of guys I think that we can win with,” Rodriguez said.
Money is admittedly more of a factor than it was even a year ago in the realm of competing, but Rodriguez embraces the underdog attitude that has long been rampant throughout the state.
“Being from here and knowing that West Virginia has always been kind of an underdog mentality, they think we can do it. And because I’m from here and coached here, played here, whatever, I understand that. I don’t want to say that’s our secret sauce, but that’s something that we will use to help us,” he said.
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