Football

WVU Rich Rodriguez, Virginia’s Tony Elliott square off as foes rather than head coach and player

MORGANTOWN -- Before accepting the job at West Virginia, Rich Rodriguez was on Tommy Bowden's staff at Clemson as the offensive coordinator in 1999 and 2000. Rodriguez was one of the hot coordinators in college football after his tempo and RPO-filled offense made waves at Glenville State and Tulane.

At the time Rodriguez was calling the offense, a young Tony Elliott, who is now the Virginia head coach, decided to walk on to the program at receiver. Elliott put his head down and eventually worked his way to some playing time in the early 2000s. He played in 31 games over his last three seasons, and in his final year, 2003, he had 23 catches for 286 yards and a touchdown. Elliott was named co-captain, and his squad went 9-4.

By that time, Rodriguez had become the head coach at WVU, but Rodriguez remembers Elliott's work ethic, being hard-edge before it existed, and how he was really smart.

Rodriguez saw Elliott and had an ironic thought.

"This guy is going to be a good coach if he wants to be a coach someday," Rodriguez said.

From that point, Elliott went into coaching and coached receivers at Furman (2008-10) and two years at South Carolina State before returning to Clemson. He spent 11 years under head coach Dabo Swinney, who was his receivers coach with the Tigers in the early 2000s, as the offensive coordinator.

In 2021, Elliott was named the head coach of Virginia. This is his fifth year as head coach, coming off one of his best seasons with a 11-3 record and a game away from a College Football Playoff berth.

Now, 20-plus years later, Elliott faces his former offensive coordinator Rodriguez when he coaches No. 25 Virginia against the Mountaineers on Saturday in Charlotte.

"It's pretty cool," Elliott said. "It's humbling, too. It's an indication of how old I am getting. It's pretty cool."

When asked what Elliott remembers about playing for Rodriguez, it sounds very similar to when you ask current WVU players what it's like. He remembers the intensity, the demands and playing fast. He coached hard, but loved hard.

The tempo offense sticks in his mind the most.

"I think he was ahead of all the other guys from a tempo standpoint," Elliott said. "I just remember it was spot the ball. Back on the 25-second play clock, we had to have the ball snapped by 19. We had six seconds to get the ball off once it was made ready for play."

20-plus years later, Rodriguez still runs a similar offense. The Mountaineers run the tempo, have a mobile quarterback, and plan to out-muscle and tire you out on the ground. WVU's been successful at that so far this season. The Mountaineers average 298.5 on the ground and still have one of the fastest run offenses in college football.

"They still go fast. Run the ball attack. Mobile quarterback," Elliott said. "That's still very similar to our style back when I played at Clemson. Some similarities, but also some differences because it’s been a lot of time."

Elliott might've taken notes from Rodriguez back in the early 2000s because this season Virginia has a very similar offense. UVA has dual-threat quarterback Beau Pribula and has an efficient rushing attack behind an experienced offensive line that will out-muscle you down the field. It's not as high-tempo, but there are similarities.

Who runs it better? That'll be decided on Saturday. Rodriguez has been coaching a long time, long enough to have coached Elliott, so he has the experience. But the Cavaliers are coming off an 11-win season, so there's a good chance the student becomes the master, or maybe there are a few more lessons to be taught.

"Really proud of him," Rodriguez said. "He's done a great job at UVA."