West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez has been coaching football for a long time. Over the years, he’s seen the game change—and the players change with it.
In the past, Rodriguez could simply tell his players to “run through a wall,” and they’d do it without question. But today, it’s not that simple.
“Now they’ll still do it, but they want to know why,” Rodriguez said on The Triple Option podcast. “And if they don’t get the right answer, they’ll say, ‘Well, that’s not what it says on Google right here.’ The damn guys are smarter than us.”
Today’s players come to the field more informed than ever before, so coaches have to be ready to explain the reasoning behind every decision.
“You better know why this is the why. And so, I’ll tell them, ‘This is the why,’” Rodriguez explained.
Rodriguez still coaches his team with the same toughness he always has. But now, it requires more conversation and explanation than before.
Despite these adjustments, some things never change. Rodriguez makes it clear there’s no room for slacking or softness.
“I tell our coaches if there’s one play in practice—or especially in practice, because that’s where football teams get made—where a guy is loafing or he’s soft, and you don’t say something when you see it immediately, you’ve created a problem,” he said.
That correction has to be immediate to set the tone for the whole team.
“I say it when I see it. I say it, then it’s over with,” Rodriguez said.
By balancing patience and communication with firm accountability, Rodriguez shows how coaching today’s players can be different—but the core values of hard work and discipline remain just as important.
