One thing that’s apparent in observing West Virginia’s practice is that tempo is critical.
The Mountaineers are constantly moving in and out of drill work with the coaching staff demanding their players to work at a torrid pace. Head Coach Rich Rodriguez has said that there is no easing in with his players and instead throws things at them and hopes it sticks early on in practice.
“We like to say our practices are for an hour and a half, two hours. We’ll get more done in two hours than most teams will in five,” Rodriguez said.
For example, in a standard five-minute period most teams would run anywhere between five to eight plays, but Rodriguez wants to see his team hitting upwards to 15-16 in that span.
“It’s a little bit different,” he said.
But over the years, Rodriguez also believes that because of that tempo his coaching staff has been able to adapt and become more efficient than they were previously in his career.
“I’ve tried to get more efficient and get more done in a two-hour practice,” he said.
Rodriguez is a firm believer that the most important time that the coaching staff spends with the players, whether that’s in the meeting room or on the practice field. That makes maximizing that time critical in order to be purposeful with what is happening in those moments.
That was on display in the open practice when Rodriguez was vocally pressing his coaches and players to get into drill work quicker to avoid any wasted time.
“I don’t like a lot of standing around,” he said.
But just like the players must adjust to the tempo, the same can be said for the coaching staff especially in a spring that features the group working together as a unit for the first time. That takes some time to learn to manage that as well and become more efficient as a whole.
“I think our coaches are still adjusting to how I want to do it,” he said.
Rodriguez places a strong emphasis on the time that the coaching staff is permitted to be with their players, but while they can talk in meeting rooms, the focus is on moving and hitting their goals when they are on the practice field.
West Virginia continues to make strides there, but there’s work to do.
“The first spring's the hardest because it's painful to watch coaches kind of explain things, and we got to do that, but I'd rather just move at a faster tempo,” he said.
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