MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — As fall camp kicked off for the West Virginia Mountaineers, head coach Rich Rodriguez met with the media, holding a sheet of paper he kept close throughout the session.
“I brought this to help me out,” Rodriguez explained. “It lists players’ years, positions, and jersey numbers. I’m starting to recognize faces and know their positions, but I still need to get to know many of them better. That’s what these next 20 days are about.”
In his return to the head coaching role at WVU, Rodriguez alongside an entirely new coaching staff is working to mold a mostly overhauled team. The roster includes a few returning players from the end of Neal Brown’s tenure, a large group of transfers (some of whom played for Rodriguez at Jacksonville State), and incoming freshmen many of whom are getting their first taste of college football outside spring practice.
Rodriguez noted that reviewing film and pointing out mistakes can also be a tool for learning who the players are. “Sometimes when someone messes up, I’ll ask, ‘Who’s that guy and where’s he from?’”
To build camaraderie, Rodriguez plans informal evening gatherings he calls “fireside chats.” These small-group sessions mix players from different positions, along with coaches and staff, for 15-minute conversations aimed at getting to know each other better. “All of these guys have unique stories. I enjoy the chats as much as anything during camp,” he said.
With the season opener against Robert Morris just a month away, West Virginia won’t start full-contact practices until their sixth session, scheduled for Tuesday. Early in camp, the focus will be on evaluating players so the coaching staff can figure out what they have to work with.
“In the first two weeks, we’ll do a lot of evaluating,” Rodriguez said. “We have so many new players, even the few who played some last year are learning a new system, so everyone needs to be assessed. It can be frustrating because you want to move on to teaching schemes and fundamentals, but we need dedicated evaluation periods.”
As the team’s offensive play-caller, Rodriguez hopes to have a clear sense of the unit before the regular season, though he admits this year’s camp poses more challenges than previous ones.
“You have to know how to teach it. I’ve been coaching offense a long time, so I know what it should look like,” he said. “Zac Alley, our defensive coordinator, has a good grasp of his unit, too. My role is to bring it all together and make it run efficiently.”
Reflecting on last year’s camp at Jacksonville State, Rodriguez said it went well but the team stumbled early in the season. That experience is pushing him to rethink and adjust his current approach.
“This camp is especially unique,” he added. “About 90 percent of the team is either brand new to this level or just arriving. There’s inexperience, yes but if a guy can play, he can play. It’s our job to get them ready.”
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