West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez is wasting no time setting the tone for his return to Morgantown.
During a press conference, he was asked if he was considering redshirting true freshmen this season, and his answer was clear.
“I ain’t saving them for the next coach here,” he said via EERSNation. “Or the next damn coach at somewhere else that they transfer to.”
Rodriguez plans to play any players who can help the team win, regardless of their class.
His approach comes in the midst of a massive roster overhaul that includes well over 50 new players, with most of them arriving through the transfer portal.
With the landscape of college football changing with NIL, players have the opportunity to leave their respective programs with not much restriction.
Rodriguez brings a new culture to WVU that is centered around immediate impact rather than long-term speculation. With the current pace of roster turnover in the Big 12, the traditional concept of saving players for later seasons is a thing of the past, as Rodriguez alluded to in the press conference.
“Remember you’d go into it (the season) that would be part of your mindset, like which ones are going to redshirt,” he said. “Who are we going to do? Redshirt them for the next coach or next team they play for?”
For the Rodriguez and the Mountaineers, this means the best players at each position will take the field regardless of experience.
Entering his second stint leading the program, Rodriguez coached WVU from 2001-07 and was named Big East Coach of the Year twice.
His priority is building a team that competes now, not saving talent for someone else’s future benefit. WVU struggled last season, finishing 6-7, and the program has won just two bowl games in the past nine seasons.
The Mountaineers begin the 2025 season at home against Robert Morris on Aug. 30.
