Coach's Q&A: Rich Rodriguez
West Virginia's coach talks about disappointing 11-win seasons and the merits of the BCS
May 9, 2007
By Steve Brauntuch
CSTV.com
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Steve Brauntuch
Steve Brauntuch is a researcher for CSTV and contributor to CSTV.com. |
If it wasn't for Rich Rodriguez, Nick Saban would still be coaching the Miami Dolphins. Rodriguez was first in line to become the head football coach at
After an 11-2 campaign last year, the Mountaineers are once again in prime position to contend, with Heisman Trophy candidates Pat White and Steve Slaton leading the way. And Rodriguez is in prime position to add to his growing legacy in
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SB: After starting off 7-0 last season, your team finished 11-2. Despite the 11 wins, do you feel in some way that last season was a disappointing one for you and your team?
RR: Well, you know, obviously the two losses... it's kind of interesting when you go 11-2 and people say it was kind of a down year for you, so I guess our program has grown to the point where winning a Gator Bowl championship and finishing in the Top 10 is disappointing to some folks. But there's not a person in our program that likes finishing in second place, and we were in second place in the Big East and we like finishing in first. So I think our guys are even more motivated - I know the staff is motivated - to try to get back and win the Big East championship.
SB: How does coaching at
RR: Well, you know, it's funny you ask that, because when you reflect on it, it's really still just football. The X's and O's and the techniques and obviously the ages of the young men you're working with is the same. The biggest difference in coaching on this level is you have so many other hats that you have to wear and that's required of you as a Division I coach. You have to deal, obviously, with the media and the expectations and the fundraising, and those things probably take up a little bit more time than at a small college level. But when I was at Glenville, I was also the athletic director. So the time spent in your job and all that is pretty similar, so I don't think it's been that big of an adjustment.
SB: Where do you think the Big East ranks among the top conferences in the nation? Do you think it's as deep and as tough as conferences like the SEC and the Pac-10?
RR: Well, I'm a little biased. I think the Big East is a lot better, and I think it's perceived as being better now than it has been in several years. We had a couple of tough years a few years back, when we had some schools leave and brought some new schools in. But I think last year, with three schools finishing in the top 12 and with really every team in our league having a large number of players coming back, the Big East will be as strong as it has been in a long, long time. We're not a big league - we've only got eight teams, and some of those schools don't have the long tradition because Division I-A football is relatively new. But I think from top to bottom, we're as strong as anybody, but we don't have the depth and obviously the tradition that the SEC and the Big Ten or leagues like that would have.
SB: BCS - pro or con?
RR: I like the way the BCS system is. Now, if there's a way - you know, I figure maybe if you played all the bowl games and had a plus-one model, where you played one more game after it, and maybe have your traditional bowl lineups in the BCS bowls from conferences like they did and then maybe played a plus-one - I think that maybe it would be a de facto playoff. But I think there's always going to be controversy, whether you pick four teams or eight teams or 16 teams in a playoff, and maybe it'll come to that in the future. But I'm pretty pleased with the system right now.
SB: But it seems like your league would be major beneficiaries in a playoff system. The Big East was only able to get one team in a BCS bowl this year, but under a playoff system, you might have had two or three teams contending for a national title.
RR: Yeah, I don't know. I think it's probably a question that will be answered maybe differently every year. It just depends on how your league does. I mean, last year was obviously a great year for us with the three schools in the top 12. I don't know if that can happen every year. There's so much more parity in Division I-A football, and the margin for error is a lot less than it's ever been. You know, you're seeing more schools that actually have a chance to compete for a top 5 or top 10 spot. So would a playoff be interesting? Sure, but the bowls have been awfully good to college football. If you can evolve the bowls and have sort of a playoff system which eventually becomes kind of what the BCS does now with a championship game, I think you have the best of everything.
SB: You guys have a run-first offensive system right now at
RR: No, not at all. You know, the fact that we've ran more than we've passed over the last couple of years, I think, has been due to our personnel and the way some teams have defended us. But this is the same system that I've been running for 15 years, and we used to be 65 percent pass. And so when we go to practice plan and we go to games, we have an equal number of pass and run plays called. We just try to go with what's been effective for us. You know, having some guys like Pat White and Steve Slaton that are great runners has geared our offense more toward the run. But we're going to be willing and able to throw it if we have to.
SB: You were heavily rumored to be heading to
RR: Well, I think it's always very flattering if anybody calls and is expressing interest in myself or some of our coaches to look at their school. So, you know, I take it and I tell our guys, you know, it is a flattering moment when it happens. But for myself, like when
SB: There's been a lot of talk lately about college football becoming a 12-month sport and players not having enough time in the offseason to recover and prepare. With that in mind, do you still think there's a need for organized spring practice sessions?
RR: I think so. I think you've got to have some form of spring because you've got to have time when you can teach without the pressure of getting ready for a game. You know, the other sports have their individual workouts all year. We probably have the least amount of time to work with our athletes, and it's probably the most dangerous sport that's out there. I think you have to have some spring practices to teach fundamentals, teach guys how to block and tackle and do things in a safe manner, and go over all the techniques that are involved in the game of football. So, you know, I think it's good the way it is right now. I don't think anything needs to be changed in that system.
SB: What do you think the biggest difference is in college football from the time you played at
RR: It's always required a great commitment from the players and certainly coaches and preparation for 11, 12 or 13 games. But now, it's so competitive that most of the time you don't even have to remind or hope or pray that your athletes will be there all summer working out. They're going to want to be there because they want to compete at the highest level. So I guess the refinement of the techniques and the refinement of the athletes today in all sports is at an all-time high and is probably going to keep getting better.
SB: Ballpark it for me - how many times in your life have you heard the song "Take Me Home, Country Roads"?
RR: Too many to count, but I hope a lot more in the future.
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