Rich Rodriguez explained afterward. “I think it kind of worked out that way.” We’re in a new age of college football with the transfer portal, revenue sharing and name, image and likeness (NIL). Roster raiding is now the norm and coaches from coast to coast are leery of showcasing their top players to potential poachers. […]
Rich Rodriguez explained afterward. “I think it kind of worked out that way.”
We’re in a new age of college football with the transfer portal, revenue sharing and name, image and likeness (NIL).
Roster raiding is now the norm and coaches from coast to coast are leery of showcasing their top players to potential poachers.
Several prominent ones, including Nebraska’s Matt Rhule, USC’s Lincoln Riley and Texas’ Steve Sarkisian, are either canceling or dramatically scaling back their traditional spring football games this year.
“The word ‘tampering’ doesn’t exist anymore,” Rhule said in February. “It’s just an absolute free open common market. I don’t necessarily want to open up the outside world and have people watch our guys and say, ‘He looks like a pretty good player. Let’s go get him.'”
Count Rodriguez among the leery ones.
There was no live radio or television coverage, and no official statistics were kept for today’s scrimmage.
It will be interesting to see how much footage and information comes out from today, something Rodriguez joked about afterward.
“There is a certain level of trust I have with the media, you guys, I trust you so much and we’ll see where that takes us, right?” he chuckled. “Our media knows what to show and what not to show because they love the Mountaineers, too, right? Ask me that question again in a month.”
In the past, the spring game was always viewed as a great promotional tool to sell season tickets and boost enthusiasm for upcoming year. In some places, it was also extremely profitable.
Now, coaches are reluctant to talk about much of anything, including their players, at least before April 25thwhen the transfer portal officially closes.
“We need a bunch of new players and guys who want to come in and compete, and we’re going to have to get a few more in here in a couple of weeks,” Rodriguez said. “Now, I’m not going to sit here and point out which guys have really shown out and done a great job this spring who can be an all-conference guy … and you know why I’m not saying that, right?
“When they change this portal date, I will be talking about every guy, their strengths and weaknesses,” he added. “But right now, I’m not saying squat.”
Well, not quite.
He does think his team has made progress through the 15 spring practices, including today.
“I don’t know if we are on target, but we’re further along than we were day one, which I would hope so being three months into it,” he pointed out. “I’m not panicking. This is my eighth time (with a new team) and that first spring, not one of them has been good. The majority of them have been ugly and some of them have been catastrophically ugly. Then, four months later, it’s okay. I don’t have that feeling now, but there is still a lot of stuff that we have to get right.”
The alternative to having a spring game is just another practice.
“This wasn’t a true game, and we were not keeping score,” he said. “I did that one time where you had a certain scoring system for three-and-outs, first downs and so forth. Hell, after five minutes I got confused. Let’s just play football.
“I wanted to put the kickers under a little bit of pressure early, so it was the same format as some of the other scrimmages. The only thing we didn’t do at the end, which I wanted to do, was some two-minute-drill stuff,” he said.
Admission today was free, and fans were encouraged to donate to WVU Medicine Children’s, the annual beneficiary of the spring game going back to Don Nehlen’s time here in the 1980s.
A concert featuring The Powell Brothers got things started this morning in Almost Heaven Village. The fan experience zone was up and running with food trucks, inflatables, yard games, caricature artistry, balloon artistry, face painting and a live DJ keeping people occupied until on-field activities inside the stadium began at 1 p.m.
The modified format did little to deter curious Mountaineer fans eager for a return to the great success Rodriguez’s WVU teams enjoyed in the 2000s.
The suite seating underneath both facades appeared to be full, and a good number of fans were scattered about in the lower level on both sides.
Near the end of the scrimmage, Rodriguez went up into the stands and selected two fans to call two-point conversion plays.
The first of the two was successful.
“I was going to run six two-point plays and somehow the coaches screwed up the first one and that through it off schedule,” he said. “I won’t say I wanted the fans to call a bad play and boo them, but that would have been fun if it happened. But then they wind up calling better plays than I called.”
At the conclusion of today’s activities, fans were permitted to go onto the field and take pictures with players and coaches.
West Virginia opens the 2025 season on Saturday, Aug. 30, against Robert Morris at Milan Puskar Stadium. Season tickets are on sale through the Mountaineer Ticket Office and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
