WVU’s 1st fall practice didn’t meet Rich Rodriguez’s high expectations
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MORGANTOWN -- It was 75 degrees, sunny and no humidity in Morgantown Wednesday morning for West Virginia football's first practice of fall camp. The weather was a lot better than the boiling, humid summers Rich Rodriguez coached in down south.
"This is like vacation," Rodriguez said. "The weather is just unreal. So nice out there."
It was the perfect weather to practice in. But it was far from the perfect first practice. The night before practice No. 1, Rodriguez told his staff that the players looked in "pretty good" shape, but that might not be true after the first practice.
It wasn't. Players weren't ready to play in Rodriguez's high-pace tempo, and couldn't make it the full 20 periods. The practice didn’t meet Rodriguez's expectations.
"Think it went all right," Rodriguez said. "I think probably it should have been as expected. You always think we’re going to be in better shape than we are. We’re in decent shape, but not in good enough shape to go 20 periods without somebody loafing, so we’ll have some unpleasant film moments."
This was the first practice since the spring game in April, marking the final practice of the spring. Since then, the team had been working individually, working out and doing individual drills. There hadn't been a full team practice. The NCAA doesn't allow it.
On June 24, the NCAA FBS Oversight Committee introduced a proposal to modify the calendar. The new changes, which would be in effect in 2027 if passed, would allow some summer practices like the NFL. Rodriguez is in favor of the change.
"Try to do the NFL thing, have some practices in the summer. We should," Rodriguez said. "We should model as much off the NFL as we can... They're still going to class to get their degrees. But they can still do that, and we can maybe have 10 practices. I would think that would be a lot better. It would be a lot less painful than our first practice like today."
There were mental mistakes, which were expected with new players learning new schemes. But what Rodriguez was most upset about was the lack of urgency throughout the team. Rodriguez said multiple times about his impatient personality, and that's why he runs the tempo offense. He's started to feel the impatience from the fans to perform, too, especially after a 4-8 season.
WVU only gets so much time to practice before the first game. There are two weeks before classes start, so Rodriguez wants to get a majority of the work in before then when the players have their full attention on football.
"That’s my job is to have everybody involved in our program to have the same sense of urgency to get this thing where we want to get," Rodriguez said. "Everybody in our program needs to understand it. Everybody who supports our program needs to understand that."
Rodriguez's expectation of the team being in game-shape for the first practice was unrealistic. He'd be crazy to think the team would be ready to play after the first day.
This disappointment isn't new. Rodriguez has the same expectation every year, and he recalled he's never had a team be in game-shape after Day 1.
"In 29 years as the head coach, I’ve probably been 29 for 29 saying that after the first practice," Rodriguez said. "I guess I was just looking through rose-colored glasses, thinking, 'Man, we’re going to be in game shape very first day.' We're not."
He knows it'll only get better as camp goes on, so he's not too worried.
"The real part about it is I think we have a bunch of really conscientious players," Rodriguez said. "Obviously a conscientious staff. We’ll get that fixed in a hurry."