Photo by: WVU Athletic Communications
WVU’s Trickett Still Going Strong at Age 78
August 07, 2026 04:07 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Being a 78-year-old and still working makes West Virginia University offensive line coach Rick Trickett an outlier in today's economy.
A quick ChatGPT search reveals that just 9% of the U.S. workforce is still employed beyond the age of 75, so when it comes to college football coaches, he's pretty much working on his own island right now.
Of the roughly 10,000 coaches involved in the sport, there is no age-related data to evaluate. North Carolina's Bill Belichick is the oldest head coach at age 74, while Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz just hit 70.
In the pros, 75-year-old Cleveland Browns senior defensive assistant Dom Capers is the oldest now that 87-year-old Tom Moore decided last winter to start drawing down some of his 401K money. Moore isn't completely retired, however, because he recently accepted a role as a consultant and advisor to Ferentz at Iowa.
At many places, experience and wisdom are still highly valued, and you can count West Virginia University among them.
"Trick has done a great job," Mountaineer coach Rich Rodriguez, who last winter convinced the veteran coach to take another lap around the power conference ranks, said earlier today. "I think he's one of the best at what he does, and I like where we're at. There are a lot of things that make Rick such a good coach, but one of the best is that he's got a lot of pride in his unit.
"He ain't worried about being a head coach or a coordinator, he's worried about his line doing their job and being as good as they can be," he added. "He's a perfectionist, and I love the way he gets those guys going."
Being a college football coach isn't nearly as demanding as serving in the United States Marine Corps, as Trickett once did, and it's certainly not as demanding as patrolling the jungles of Vietnam, as Trickett also once did as a 19-year-old enlistee in 1967.
According to Google, Trickett's tour in Vietnam included a visit to Khe Sanh during some of the bloodiest periods of the conflict.
Trickett doesn't bring up that stuff with his players, some of them 60 years younger than him, but he does remind them that he was once 18, too.
And he says he still wakes up every day feeling like he's 19.
"The other day when I came in and I told them, 'You all understand, when I was 18 there's a 60-year difference from my 18 and your 18,'" he pointed out. "So, I put on a video about what it was like when I grew up - Vietnam War, the hippies and all that kind of thing. I'm trying to relate to them and show them that I know what it's like to be 18. But I don't know what it's like to be that now."
Feeling like he's 19 doesn't necessarily mean he wants to be 19 years old today.
"They're (always) tied into that phone; hell, I lost two of them the other day," he laughed. "I still ain't found one of them, and the other one got picked up over by Ruby (Hospital) and turned into the State Police. They live on that cellphone, and there are no cellphones in my meeting room.
"I got on them a little bit because they say they all eat together at the dining all. Yes, they were all eating together, but they were all looking at their phones. Now, I notice them sitting in there and they're all talking to each other. If we can teach them how to communicate and don't just rely on the dadgum thing they're going to be better off for it because you've still got to handle people and learn how to do stuff," Trickett reasoned.
Some good, sound advice by someone who has lived life to its fullest - and is still living to its fullest!
"I'm still a kid," he laughed. "I just went out and bought me a new Triumph motorcycle and was riding it the other day. I was coming back from Romney and I'm buzzing by these cars about 80 miles per hour, hitting those curves and stuff thinking, 'If they knew I was a 78-year-old football coach down there from West Virginia, they'd probably die.'"
When you watch Trickett operate on the football field, he moves around like a man who is 48 and not 78. Rodriguez says he still coaches like a 26-year-old graduate assistant trying to land his first job.
During practice breaks, Trickett demands his players always take one knee – never sit or lie down on a football field. If a 78-year-old man putting in more than 10,000 steps a day during practice can remain on his feet, surely an 18-year-old in tip-top shape can take a break on one knee.
Trickett isn't imposing physically, although he still does more than 100 stomach crunches a day to remain slim and fit, but he's got a voice that can easily project from one side of the field to the other. Players today would probably liken it to the booming-voiced Sheldon J. Plankton on the popular cartoon "SpongeBob Square Pants."
"Even though I'm not near coach Trickett a lot, I'm for sure hearing him when he's coaching those O-line guys," senior wide receiver Jaden Bray chuckled. "His intensity and how much love he has for the game, you can only just admire that. He may not be coaching you on wide receiver technique, but I can still be getting lessons from him on (how to be a good football player). Hearing how passionate he is and how he gets on them, it's just impressive."
"You've got to love the game, and that guy loves the game," linebacker Ben Cutter added. "To be as devoted to it and committed as he is … I've seen a lot of older coaches who kind of take a step back and let the other guys' rip into somebody and he's right there doing it. He's all about it and I have a lot of respect for him."
Yes, there is probably a segment of today's younger generation that doesn't really value wisdom and experience as much as older generations once did, but there are also still many who do.
You can count Bray and Cutter among the willing listeners.
"I'm always looking to learn, especially somebody with all that knowledge who has been there," Bray said. "I bet he's seen thousands of players, so I just try and soak everything up as much as I can."
"His voice is loud. You perk your ears up whenever you hear him talk," Cutter mentioned.
Wisdom and experience working in spread offenses were a couple of good reasons why Rodriguez convinced Trickett to return to West Virginia.
The biggest reason, however, is the most telling. Rick Trickett is a winner, and Rich Rodriguez is getting paid to win football games.
That's always been Trickett's best solution to handling any generational gaps that might exist between him and his players.
"I don't handle it. I let them handle it," he admitted. "They're the ones that have got to handle it. Hell, I ain't changing it. We know what wins. I know how to win, and I'm not going to lower the bar for anybody.
"The coaching part of it, you've got to show them why," he explained. "Just like anybody, the pro guys or no matter who you are, if you go up and show a pro player how to do something and he's going to make himself better, they'll buy in. I think they know when they've seen improvement in themselves, so I don't worry about none of that."
As for this year's group, Trickett's septuagenarian eyes are telling him they are on schedule.
"We've got some guys in the second group we've got to keep improving, but I think there are 12 or 13 guys that I think maybe we can find 10 top guys who can get after somebody," he proclaimed.
"And I've got my eye on a couple who are not that far off (from the first group)," he added.
That's certainly good enough for the guy who hired him.
"If your offensive line is good, you've always got a shot," Rodriguez concluded.
The Mountaineers began practice work this morning on the Steve Antoline Family Practice Field before rain forced them to conclude activities inside the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility.
One more practice in shells scheduled for Saturday morning will conclude the first week of on-field work.
A quick ChatGPT search reveals that just 9% of the U.S. workforce is still employed beyond the age of 75, so when it comes to college football coaches, he's pretty much working on his own island right now.
Of the roughly 10,000 coaches involved in the sport, there is no age-related data to evaluate. North Carolina's Bill Belichick is the oldest head coach at age 74, while Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz just hit 70.
In the pros, 75-year-old Cleveland Browns senior defensive assistant Dom Capers is the oldest now that 87-year-old Tom Moore decided last winter to start drawing down some of his 401K money. Moore isn't completely retired, however, because he recently accepted a role as a consultant and advisor to Ferentz at Iowa.
At many places, experience and wisdom are still highly valued, and you can count West Virginia University among them.
"Trick has done a great job," Mountaineer coach Rich Rodriguez, who last winter convinced the veteran coach to take another lap around the power conference ranks, said earlier today. "I think he's one of the best at what he does, and I like where we're at. There are a lot of things that make Rick such a good coach, but one of the best is that he's got a lot of pride in his unit.
"He ain't worried about being a head coach or a coordinator, he's worried about his line doing their job and being as good as they can be," he added. "He's a perfectionist, and I love the way he gets those guys going."
Being a college football coach isn't nearly as demanding as serving in the United States Marine Corps, as Trickett once did, and it's certainly not as demanding as patrolling the jungles of Vietnam, as Trickett also once did as a 19-year-old enlistee in 1967.
According to Google, Trickett's tour in Vietnam included a visit to Khe Sanh during some of the bloodiest periods of the conflict.
Trickett doesn't bring up that stuff with his players, some of them 60 years younger than him, but he does remind them that he was once 18, too.
And he says he still wakes up every day feeling like he's 19.
"The other day when I came in and I told them, 'You all understand, when I was 18 there's a 60-year difference from my 18 and your 18,'" he pointed out. "So, I put on a video about what it was like when I grew up - Vietnam War, the hippies and all that kind of thing. I'm trying to relate to them and show them that I know what it's like to be 18. But I don't know what it's like to be that now."
Feeling like he's 19 doesn't necessarily mean he wants to be 19 years old today.
"They're (always) tied into that phone; hell, I lost two of them the other day," he laughed. "I still ain't found one of them, and the other one got picked up over by Ruby (Hospital) and turned into the State Police. They live on that cellphone, and there are no cellphones in my meeting room.
"I got on them a little bit because they say they all eat together at the dining all. Yes, they were all eating together, but they were all looking at their phones. Now, I notice them sitting in there and they're all talking to each other. If we can teach them how to communicate and don't just rely on the dadgum thing they're going to be better off for it because you've still got to handle people and learn how to do stuff," Trickett reasoned.
Some good, sound advice by someone who has lived life to its fullest - and is still living to its fullest!
"I'm still a kid," he laughed. "I just went out and bought me a new Triumph motorcycle and was riding it the other day. I was coming back from Romney and I'm buzzing by these cars about 80 miles per hour, hitting those curves and stuff thinking, 'If they knew I was a 78-year-old football coach down there from West Virginia, they'd probably die.'"
When you watch Trickett operate on the football field, he moves around like a man who is 48 and not 78. Rodriguez says he still coaches like a 26-year-old graduate assistant trying to land his first job.
During practice breaks, Trickett demands his players always take one knee – never sit or lie down on a football field. If a 78-year-old man putting in more than 10,000 steps a day during practice can remain on his feet, surely an 18-year-old in tip-top shape can take a break on one knee.
Trickett isn't imposing physically, although he still does more than 100 stomach crunches a day to remain slim and fit, but he's got a voice that can easily project from one side of the field to the other. Players today would probably liken it to the booming-voiced Sheldon J. Plankton on the popular cartoon "SpongeBob Square Pants."
"Even though I'm not near coach Trickett a lot, I'm for sure hearing him when he's coaching those O-line guys," senior wide receiver Jaden Bray chuckled. "His intensity and how much love he has for the game, you can only just admire that. He may not be coaching you on wide receiver technique, but I can still be getting lessons from him on (how to be a good football player). Hearing how passionate he is and how he gets on them, it's just impressive."
"You've got to love the game, and that guy loves the game," linebacker Ben Cutter added. "To be as devoted to it and committed as he is … I've seen a lot of older coaches who kind of take a step back and let the other guys' rip into somebody and he's right there doing it. He's all about it and I have a lot of respect for him."
Yes, there is probably a segment of today's younger generation that doesn't really value wisdom and experience as much as older generations once did, but there are also still many who do.
You can count Bray and Cutter among the willing listeners.
"I'm always looking to learn, especially somebody with all that knowledge who has been there," Bray said. "I bet he's seen thousands of players, so I just try and soak everything up as much as I can."
"His voice is loud. You perk your ears up whenever you hear him talk," Cutter mentioned.
Wisdom and experience working in spread offenses were a couple of good reasons why Rodriguez convinced Trickett to return to West Virginia.
The biggest reason, however, is the most telling. Rick Trickett is a winner, and Rich Rodriguez is getting paid to win football games.
That's always been Trickett's best solution to handling any generational gaps that might exist between him and his players.
"I don't handle it. I let them handle it," he admitted. "They're the ones that have got to handle it. Hell, I ain't changing it. We know what wins. I know how to win, and I'm not going to lower the bar for anybody.
"The coaching part of it, you've got to show them why," he explained. "Just like anybody, the pro guys or no matter who you are, if you go up and show a pro player how to do something and he's going to make himself better, they'll buy in. I think they know when they've seen improvement in themselves, so I don't worry about none of that."
As for this year's group, Trickett's septuagenarian eyes are telling him they are on schedule.
"We've got some guys in the second group we've got to keep improving, but I think there are 12 or 13 guys that I think maybe we can find 10 top guys who can get after somebody," he proclaimed.
"And I've got my eye on a couple who are not that far off (from the first group)," he added.
That's certainly good enough for the guy who hired him.
"If your offensive line is good, you've always got a shot," Rodriguez concluded.
The Mountaineers began practice work this morning on the Steve Antoline Family Practice Field before rain forced them to conclude activities inside the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility.
One more practice in shells scheduled for Saturday morning will conclude the first week of on-field work.
Players Mentioned
WR
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LB
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Friday, August 07
