Rich Rodriguez is always going to tell you exactly what he thinks. Especially when it comes to the role of image and clout within the modern era of college football.
The 62-year-old head coach delivered yet another incredible rant during his weekly radio show.
He does not understand why college football has become so lenient toward behavior that distracts from the primary goal of winning. Especially when a once amateur sport has since become professional.
Rich Rodriguez went on a tangent.
The initial discussion started with a question about the game on Saturday. Mountaineers safety Fred Perry had to leave the field before the first play because of an equipment issue. More specifically, an exposed knee brace. No big deal.
And then Rodriguez decided to open the conversation to a much larger topic— the items players wear during games that do not serve a specific function. A knee brace is one thing. Decoration is another.
“I tell our guys I don’t want to be the uniform police, but some of this stuff bothers me,” he said. “Like it’s not a towel they wear, it’s a tail. It’s not like you’re keeping your hands dry with something that’s three inches long and looks like a tail. I’m like, when did we start putting tails on our guys? It’s the same thing when you’re watching games and they got mouthpieces, but they ain’t using ’em. It’s just decoration. Not here. We don’t do that. You got a mouthpiece, you put it in your mouth.”
Footwear is not exempt to Rodriguez’s stance.
“It’s the same way with shoes. You wear the shoes that we give you. You don’t go over there to get your own fancy shoes and put some sparkles on it or whatever it is. The shoes Danny Nehlen gives down there, that’s the shoe you wear.”
A uniform, by definition, remains the same in all cases and at all times. He wants that to be the case at West Virginia.
“It’s called a uniform. We’re all the same. You don’t see the military when they go out to do battle, one’s wearing white, one’s wearing green. They’re all in uniform. That’s what we got to be. The guys that want to enforce that rule is the NFL. I talked to a guy in the NFL that said, ‘Coach, it’s crazy.’ They’ll fine them thousands of dollars. They’ll fine the coaches, they’ll fine the equipment managers, they’ll fine the owners of the team because they want everybody to look uniform.”
That obviously is not the case in college football.
Players should not be concerned with fashion on the field, like Angel Reese on the court.
Rich Rodriguez questions why college athletes are so concerned with how they look and not how they play. Winning should matter more than appearance.
“But for some reason in college, we let these kids wear all kinds of glow-in-the-dark mouthpieces and all kinds of stuff like that. It drives me crazy. I didn’t know if the fans liked that, like, ‘gee, I can’t wait until Jonny comes out with a sparkly blue glow-in-the-dark mouthpiece. He’s my favorite player.’ Are you kidding me? And it’s like, they wear these leggings, right?”
Functionality is one thing.
“If you had a leg injury and you had a knee sprain or something, and the trainer gives you a knee sleeve to keep that tight, that’s understandable.”
Fashion is another. Rodriguez doesn’t want or allow his players to act like Angel Reese.
“If you’re wearing just one long legging on one leg and nothing on the other, you’re just trying to be Angel Reese. That’s what I call them. Are you trying to make a fashion statement? She can get by with it. She’s in the WNBA. You’re a football player. No Angel Reeses here.”
This latest rant from the head football coach in Morgantown directly coincides with what he has said in the past. Rodriguez banned the Mountaineers from dancing on TikTok back in March. He is demanding. His players know what they are signing up for when they commit to West Virginia, or they find out fast.
All Rich Rodriguez wants is to win.