Photo by: WVU Athletic Communications
Rodriguez Emphasizes Sense of Urgency With His Football Team
August 05, 2026 02:48 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia just completed its first practice of fall training camp on Wednesday morning up on the Steve Antoline Family Practice Field, and already Rich Rodriguez is thinking about where his young football team needs to be in two weeks.
Two weeks from now is when classes officially start for the fall semester.
Two weeks in football camp parlance means just eight practices, or basically 16 hours of field time, which, pardoning the poor grammar, ain't a whole lot!
"The next two weeks are going to be (important)," Rodriguez, beginning his 29th season of coaching, said following today's workout. "That's my job and our staff's job to get that kind of environment going in our program."
The veteran coach understands where things stand right now with West Virginia football following another roster overhaul because of its 4-8 record in 2025 - WVU's fourth losing season in the last five years. Although most of the losing predates Rodriguez, it's a trend that needs to be corrected. The preseason predictions this year vary anywhere from the bottom middle to the bottom of the Big 12, which provides plenty of motivation for Rodriguez's players.
The Sporting News is Exhibit 1A, the longtime publication picking the Mountaineers dead last in their 16-team Big 12 preseason poll. Lindy's is also providing the team a motivational boost by selecting West Virginia 12th, just ahead of UCF, Kansas, Iowa State and Colorado.
To the fans, starving for the kind of success they once grew accustomed to during Rodriguez's first tour of duty here from 2001-07, it's disheartening. Once a regular inhabitant in the Associated Press Top 25 in the late 2000s, the Mountaineers' last appearance in this poll was back on Dec. 2, 2018.
That's going on eight years!
You must go back to the late 1970s when the 63-year-old Rodriguez was just starting high school at North Marion to find a stretch nearly as long.
"There are not a lot of people predicting us to do well, and that ought to be a lot of motivation - and should be a lot of motivation for them when people are picking you last, or next to last," the coach noted. "We have a lot of things to motivate us, and that's good."
Now, Rodriguez wants to turn this into immediate results, and progress, because the clock continues to tick.
"Our players and our staff have to understand we have to have a sense of urgency," he said. "It's not, 'Okay, we've got three weeks of two-a-days, and we'll get it sorted out.' The time frame is less, and it is what it is and we've known that.
"We've had time to work in the summer, but we didn't practice in the summer," he elaborated. "The coaches weren't around them a whole bunch in the month of July, and so there has got to be a sense of urgency amongst the staff and amongst the players. 'Okay, we'll be there in two weeks.' It's got to be like, 'Whatever we did wrong today, let's correct it tomorrow' because tomorrow we'll make new mistakes and we've got to correct that."
Rodriguez said it's his priority to make sure everybody on the practice field has the same sense of purpose he has for getting things back to where they need to be.
"I don't know if everybody has a sense of urgency that I have, but they probably hear about it at the end of practice or during the staff meeting," he said. "Everybody in our program needs to understand that. Everybody who supports our program needs to understand that, and I know there is urgency amongst our fans, and people want us to do well. I appreciate that, and we've got to have a greater sense of urgency in this program to get it right."
Defensive coordinator Zac Alley shares those same sentiments overseeing his side of the football.
"The intensity has to be there every single period of every single practice," he mentioned. "You have to maximize your time while you are out there. We have some walk-throughs at night and other on-the-field things, so you've got to maximize the time you are in camp where there is nothing else going on but football.
"That's not just our staff but our players, too, coming in every day and doing more and doing extra because the baseline is not good enough," he added. "It won't win championships that way, so to me that's the biggest thing is being efficient, being organized and then making sure our guys are maximizing their ability and their time when they are here."
Today's work consisted of 22 periods in shorts and helmets. Another practice in shorts and helmets is scheduled for tomorrow, with three practices in shells leading into the first full-contact practice scheduled for next Tuesday.
That's eight more hours of on-field work before the tackling begins. Rodriguez indicated today that he likely won't hit the quarterbacks as much as he did last year, provided their ball security is acceptable.
As for today's workout, the veteran coach had mixed feelings.
"I thought we would have a better practice today, judging from what I've seen from the summer," he said. "I didn't think it was great, but I didn't think it was awful either."
No interviews are scheduled for Thursday, with the next media opportunity slated for Friday afternoon with Rodriguez, an assistant coach to be determined and select players being made available.
Two weeks from now is when classes officially start for the fall semester.
Two weeks in football camp parlance means just eight practices, or basically 16 hours of field time, which, pardoning the poor grammar, ain't a whole lot!
"The next two weeks are going to be (important)," Rodriguez, beginning his 29th season of coaching, said following today's workout. "That's my job and our staff's job to get that kind of environment going in our program."
The veteran coach understands where things stand right now with West Virginia football following another roster overhaul because of its 4-8 record in 2025 - WVU's fourth losing season in the last five years. Although most of the losing predates Rodriguez, it's a trend that needs to be corrected. The preseason predictions this year vary anywhere from the bottom middle to the bottom of the Big 12, which provides plenty of motivation for Rodriguez's players.
The Sporting News is Exhibit 1A, the longtime publication picking the Mountaineers dead last in their 16-team Big 12 preseason poll. Lindy's is also providing the team a motivational boost by selecting West Virginia 12th, just ahead of UCF, Kansas, Iowa State and Colorado.
To the fans, starving for the kind of success they once grew accustomed to during Rodriguez's first tour of duty here from 2001-07, it's disheartening. Once a regular inhabitant in the Associated Press Top 25 in the late 2000s, the Mountaineers' last appearance in this poll was back on Dec. 2, 2018.
That's going on eight years!
You must go back to the late 1970s when the 63-year-old Rodriguez was just starting high school at North Marion to find a stretch nearly as long.
"There are not a lot of people predicting us to do well, and that ought to be a lot of motivation - and should be a lot of motivation for them when people are picking you last, or next to last," the coach noted. "We have a lot of things to motivate us, and that's good."
Now, Rodriguez wants to turn this into immediate results, and progress, because the clock continues to tick.
"Our players and our staff have to understand we have to have a sense of urgency," he said. "It's not, 'Okay, we've got three weeks of two-a-days, and we'll get it sorted out.' The time frame is less, and it is what it is and we've known that.
"We've had time to work in the summer, but we didn't practice in the summer," he elaborated. "The coaches weren't around them a whole bunch in the month of July, and so there has got to be a sense of urgency amongst the staff and amongst the players. 'Okay, we'll be there in two weeks.' It's got to be like, 'Whatever we did wrong today, let's correct it tomorrow' because tomorrow we'll make new mistakes and we've got to correct that."
Rodriguez said it's his priority to make sure everybody on the practice field has the same sense of purpose he has for getting things back to where they need to be.
"I don't know if everybody has a sense of urgency that I have, but they probably hear about it at the end of practice or during the staff meeting," he said. "Everybody in our program needs to understand that. Everybody who supports our program needs to understand that, and I know there is urgency amongst our fans, and people want us to do well. I appreciate that, and we've got to have a greater sense of urgency in this program to get it right."
Defensive coordinator Zac Alley shares those same sentiments overseeing his side of the football.
"The intensity has to be there every single period of every single practice," he mentioned. "You have to maximize your time while you are out there. We have some walk-throughs at night and other on-the-field things, so you've got to maximize the time you are in camp where there is nothing else going on but football.
"That's not just our staff but our players, too, coming in every day and doing more and doing extra because the baseline is not good enough," he added. "It won't win championships that way, so to me that's the biggest thing is being efficient, being organized and then making sure our guys are maximizing their ability and their time when they are here."
Today's work consisted of 22 periods in shorts and helmets. Another practice in shorts and helmets is scheduled for tomorrow, with three practices in shells leading into the first full-contact practice scheduled for next Tuesday.
That's eight more hours of on-field work before the tackling begins. Rodriguez indicated today that he likely won't hit the quarterbacks as much as he did last year, provided their ball security is acceptable.
As for today's workout, the veteran coach had mixed feelings.
"I thought we would have a better practice today, judging from what I've seen from the summer," he said. "I didn't think it was great, but I didn't think it was awful either."
No interviews are scheduled for Thursday, with the next media opportunity slated for Friday afternoon with Rodriguez, an assistant coach to be determined and select players being made available.
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