© Ben Queen/Imagn
West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez isn’t worried about any dang violations of the constitution. If you’re a Mountaineers player who wants to film a TikTok, you can do it on your own dang time.
Rodriguez announced in March that he had banned West Virginia football players from participating in TikTok dances.
“They’re going to be on it, so I’m not banning them from it. I’m just banning them from dancing on it,” he said. “It’s like, look, we try to have a hard edge or whatever, and you’re in there in your tights dancing on TikTok, ain’t quite the image of our program that I want.”
Shortly after, Rodriguez, who is in his second stint as the head coach in Morgantown, ran into some legal concerns. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) claimed that since Rodriguez is a state employee and West Virginia is a state university, he cannot legally limit his players’ freedom of expression.
“We appreciate that Rodriguez wishes to project a certain image of his team to the public, but this directive violates the First Amendment rights of his student-athletes,” FIRE said in a letter.
But Rich Rodriguez is a 61-year-old man who is currently the highest-paid state employee in West Virginia. So he’s not exactly backing down. Instead, Rodriguez doubled down on his stance during a recent appearance on The Triple Option podcast.
Don’t bring that TikTok mess into Rich Rod’s locker room 🤣 pic.twitter.com/ieRxxuinVa
— The Triple Option (@3xOptionShow) May 16, 2025
“If the guys could dance like you, I probably would allow it,” Rodriguez jokes with former Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram. “I actually had a couple players say, ‘Coach, this is embarrassing. They’re dancing in our own locker room.'”
Rodriguez then called out people who believe he’s limiting his players’ opportunities to make money. He stated that if they want to make money, the best way to do so is by being good at football. Which is hard to argue with!
Ultimately, it seems like the legal trouble has died down. And Rodriguez appears to have won out.