Rhett Rodriguez doesn’t need any introduction to the offensive system at West Virginia. He quite literally grew up around it as the son of head coach Rich and knew the playbook before he knew his high school one.
But the recruiting aspect is one that is a little different but again the younger Rodriguez had some previous experience there when he spent some time in the business world prior to deciding to become a coach.
“The other part of the job that I had was I spent a lot of time cold calling. And so, my job before was I was calling financial advisors and trying to convince them to use our products and services,” he said.
So, Rodriguez felt that if he could convince a financial advisor of 20-plus years to use one of his products then it might be a little easier to convince a transfer or a high school quarterback to come play football.
While he recognizes it’s not exactly the same, his previous experience on the phone trying to convince people and setting up in-person meetings has certainly helped when it comes to his new role.
“It’s not been too hard of a transition,” he said.
Rodriguez didn’t have a lot of time to waste either as he was thrust into trying to identify and secure at least one transfer commitment out of the portal when he took the job to add to what the Mountaineers already had in the fold in returning signal caller Nicco Marchiol.
West Virginia is always trying to get as much talent as possible in the quarterback room and if there is one position on the roster that the coaching staff will over sign it’s under center. The main reason is obvious as if there are any injuries you want to have other players that make you feel comfortable if they’re called upon.
Marchiol was a good starting point, but the Mountaineers wanted to try to surround him with other quarterbacks who have game experience under their belt. So, Rodriguez and some other staff members started to identify those quarterbacks that were in the portal and who they could get that matched that.
The end result was Rodriguez playing a critical role in signing not just one in Jaylen Henderson from Texas A&M but another in Charlotte transfer Max Brown.
“We were able to get two of them. So, we felt even better,” Rodriguez said.
Now, the portal recruiting is quite different than their high school counterparts as the latter is often a two to three year process where you bring prospects to campus and get to know them. The transfer portal is the equivalent to speed dating where you identify and option, gauge their interest and then set up a visit.
“We talked to them on the phone, and I had a good conversation. We’d say ‘OK, is their interest here? Yes. Let’s fly them out, set up an official visit,” Rodriguez said. “And it was like, hey, you’re here and within a day or so, you were committed. So, it’s one of those things where it is not a long, drawn-out process.”
Thus far Rodriguez has been impressed with the quarterback room but when it comes to future positions, he will take a national approach to targeting the position as well as working within a six-hour radius.
“Quarterbacks especially, you kind of have to go all over the country for,” he said.
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