A lot of change is happening around the West Virginia football program since Rich Rodriguez took over last December. One of those changes is what Rodriguez's culture is, and his focus is on communicating that to the rest of his team.
Rodriguez's idea of culture and how his players play on the field is no secret. He expects them to give their all, while also playing fast and with an edge to them.
"People can sit in the stands and they might not understand the xs and os, but they know if people are playing hard, playing with passion. That to me is who we’ve always been. A lot of programs say that, but there’s different levels of playing hard. I’ve told our players that’s non-negotiable," Rodriguez said in an interview with CBSSports' Josh Pate.
What Rodriguez views as being soft or lazy, are two things he says are unacceptable for his players at WVU.
"That’s unacceptable anytime in our program if we’re practicing or we’re playing, if we ever exhibit softness or we’re ever lazy, we have to correct it, fire alarm has to go off, we got to do that, and you've got to uphold that every play, every day in this program," Rodriguez said.
Part of the reason Rodriguez believes in his culture is based on how he views the people of West Virginia. Rodriguez said he wants his team to identify with how the people of West Virginia identify, hardworking and not making excuses.
"This state understands that. The people in the state, the hardworking coal miners, my dad was a coal miner, my grandfather was a coal miner, uncles were coal miners. I understand the kind of hard work they do. These people in the state expect that and deserve that, and our program deserves that," Roriguez said of his culture.
Now in year one, Rodriguez said it's about making sure everyone is on the same page so that his vision of playing hard matches up with everyone else's vision of playing hard.
"I think our players, now, it’s kind of unique to see that culture take hold. They expect that out of each other and anybody new coming in as well. What’s funny is sometimes the players' version and even some of the coaches' versions that I haven’t worked with before of playing hard is different than mine. You might think, oh, that’s playing really hard. I judge it at a higher scale than they do," Rodriguez said.
Because of his judgment, Rodriguez has his coaching staff watch film together, so he can point out what he likes and doesn't like with certain players' work ethic on the field.
"When we watch film, we’ll watch it all together, especially early when we’re a new staff, so I can point out, this is what I think is loafing, just so you guys are all on the same page. I have to do my job of communicating exactly what I want. If I don’t do my job of communicating, that’s not the coach's fault; that’s my fault. So, the first year, there’s a lot of extra communicating going on, so I can clearly make it understood what our level of playing is," Rodriguez said.
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