College football is in a new era, and it’s an exciting time to be a fan of the sport. NIL, conference realignment and the transfer portal have added intrigue to the standard weekly drama of the season, and fans have been treated to incredible, high-stakes action every Saturday.
The new nature of the sport may be exciting for fans and those who are in the media, but it’s clear that coaches and staff members prefer the way things used to be. One returning head coach made it clear that his players would have more of an old-school approach this year.
West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Rich Rodriguez stopped short of instituting a social media ban, but he made it clear that his players would not be partaking in one activity in particular.
“I’m not banning them from it. I’m just banning them from dancing on it,” Rodriguez said, drawing a line on his players’ social media conduct for the upcoming season.
“We try to have a hard edge, whatever, and you’re in your tights dancing on TikTok. It ain’t quite the image of our program that I want.”
Rodriguez added that his reasoning for the ban is to emphasize that no individual is bigger than the collective unit.
“I told the team today, I said everything today is about trying to make everybody individual. It’s all about the individual, it’s all about the individual,” said the returning head coach.
“And I said football is one of the last things that’s got to be more about the team than the individual.”
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Rodriguez is back at West Virginia after leaving in 2008 to coach the Michigan Wolverines. In his first stint at WVU, Rodriguez led the Mountaineers to six consecutive bowl games and nearly to the 2007 national championship game.
Rodriguez, a West Virginia native, attended WVU and played as a defensive back for the Mountaineers over three seasons. He got his coaching career started at West Virginia as well, joining the staff as an graduate assistant to head coach Don Nehlen in 1985.
The Mountaineers finished with a 6-7 record this season, losing to Memphis in the Frisco Bowl to end their season. They’ll look to compete in the new-look Big 12 with one of the most notable coaches in program history next year – TikTok or not.
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