Latest news with #RichRodriguez
Dominion Post
3 days ago
- Sport
- Dominion Post
Four WVU kickoff times announced for 2025 season
MORGANTOWN — Four of West Virginia's game times were announced Thursday afternoon by the Big 12 and ESPN. The Mountaineers' season opener is slated to start at 2 p.m. on Aug. 30 against Robert Morris, but it'll be behind a paywall on ESPN+ to watch the start of Rich Rodriguez's second tenure. The following week, the Mountaineers play at another interesting time. The Mountaineers travel to Ohio University with a start time of 4 p.m. on Sept. 6, broadcasting on ESPNU. WVU makes its national broadcasting debut in the Backyard Brawl against rival Pitt on Sept. 13 at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN. This is the fourth meeting between the two schools since the rivalry was renewed in 2022. The final released time is a Big 12 conference game for the Mountaineers. West Virginia heads out to Provo, Utah, on Oct. 3 to face BYU at 10:30 p.m. for the late ESPN kick. The other kick times will be released starting on Sept. 20 on either a 12-day or six-day window prior to the date start of each game, which includes West Virginia's Big 12 opener against Kansas.
Dominion Post
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Dominion Post
Could WVU make the 'tush push' a popular play this season?
MORGANTOWN — The football world had eyes on the NFL owners' meetings Wednesday, with the fate of an iconic play in the balance. The 'tush push' was up to a vote on whether or not it should be legal. The tush push is a play where the quarterback is pushed by his teammates to move the ball forward, picking up a yard or two. The play was made famous by the Philadelphia Eagles because of their continued success for the past couple of years, and its impact on their Super Bowl run last year. The success of the Eagles created an outcry by opposing NFL teams, and the Green Bay Packers spoke up, saying it should be illegal, putting it up to a vote at the NFL owners' meetings. The result was a 22-10 vote against the play, but there needed to be 24 votes for it to be illegal. The tush push lives on. In college football, the tush push is legal, but it hasn't seen the same kind of success and national attention as in the NFL. But could West Virginia take advantage of this play? There are a couple of factors that make this play a possibility for the fall. Rich Rodriguez is an old-school coach, and like the Eagles last year, loves to use big bodies to pound the football down the field. It has the characteristics of a play that Rodriguez runs this fall. Rodriguez has famously run the play before. In 2023, Jacksonville State's offense ran the tush push on first and 10. The play wasn't supposed to be run, and Rodriguez was on the sideline, furious about the seemingly miscommunication between his quarterback and himself. His squad did pick up a couple of yards. Rodriguez runs a fast-paced offense, as on display in the spring game. Tempo helps the tush push. In a short-yardage situation, the offense's quick lineup can make sure the defense doesn't get situated right to stop it, which is another reason the Eagles have so much success. Rodriguez's offense fits the tush push, but there's a necessity of the right players to run the play effectively. The Eagles run the play so well because quarterback Jalen Hurts is 6-foot-1, 223 pounds and squatted 600 pounds in college. He has the drive and strength to run the play. The offensive line is a bunch of units, too. The average height and weight of the line is 6-foot-6 and 338 pounds. West Virginia's quarterbacks haven't shown their squats, but the size is available to the public. Texas A&M transfer Jaylen Henderson is one of the bigger quarterbacks on the roster. Henderson stands at 6-foot-3 and 224 pounds, which is right on par with Hurts. Nicco Marchiol isn't far off and is 6-foot-2 and a heavier 228 pounds. West Virginia's offensive line has some units, too, which was a priority to Rodriguez when he took the job because he loves the trenches and running the ball so much. There's no set offensive line for the fall, but looking at the players on the spring roster, West Virginia has 10 players over 300 pounds and five players 6-foot-5 or higher. Rodriguez added some units in the portal, too. Transfer commit tackle Mickel Clay stands at 6-foot-5, 300 pounds, and all four interior line transfers weigh over 300 pounds. West Virginia has the players to run the tush push. The tush push being allowed should be a rejoice not only for the Eagles, but for WVU, too. There's no telling how much or if the Mountaineers will run the play at all, but with all factors in their favor, it's something to consider.
Miami Herald
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Western Kentucky Preview 2025: Even in a Rebuild, the Hilltoppers Will Be Dangerous
Another year, another great run. It's coming, but Tyson Helton's Hilltoppers have to get that offensive groove back Kentucky has settled in with 34 wins over the last four seasons and six bowl appearances in six years. It's hard to argue too much with an eight-win year, a spot in the Conference USA Championship, and a bowl game. But … The offense died down the stretch, the defense didn't make up for it, and a 7-2 season turned into 8-6 with the Hilltoppers scoring 21 point or fewer in the last five yet, WKU lost to a bad Louisiana Tech. The win over Jacksonville State to end the regular season was a mirage - Rich Rodriguez's team was resting up for the rematch a week later, and it showed in a 52-12 take out the everyone-gets-a-pass 2020, and Helton has eight wins or more in five of his six seasons, this year's team should be a favorite to win the conference title, and it should be another great run if … Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Preview 2025: Offense X CFN, Fiu | CFN Facebook | Bluesky Fiu, CFN- The offense has to kick it back in from the start, and do it with a wholesale change at the skill spots. The passing game was okay under Caden Veltkamp, but he left for Florida Atlantic. In comes veteran quarterback Maverick McIvor. After bombing away for over 8,000 yards and 63 scores over the last three years at Abilene Christian.- The top four pass catchers are gone, but KD Hutchinson is back after averaging over 15 yards per grab. The stars - led by deep threat Matthew Henry (Western Illinois) - are almost all coming in through the portal. - The offensive line that struggled in pass protection and didn't generate enough of a push for the ground game replaces four starters, but Marshall Jackson is a decent veteran at left tackle. The new starters from the transfer portal are just okay - Devon Smith (ULM) should be okay at one tackle, but the interior being pieced Wright (Austin Peay) should be the main man for the ground game, along with WKU's No. 2 rusher last year, George Hart III - he ran for 206 yards. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Preview 2025: Defense - The defense was way too pass defense finished ninth in the nation, but that's because everyone was too busy running at will on the front six. On the plus side, the entire line and most of the linebacking corps is being replaced - Kennon Loftin (JUCO) should be the team's leading tackler in the middle.- The line has experience from other spots, but the proven production isn't quite there. It's a strength-in-numbers thing with seven new players from the portal forming rotation. The pass rush has to come from somewhere. - The secondary will be tested a little more this season. Jaylen Lewis (Temple) was a nice get at safety coming off a 43-tackle season, and Demarko Williams is a veteran who came up 37 stops and two picks last year. The corners will work around Kent Robinson, one of WKU's most experienced returning defenders. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Key to the Season Don't be awful against the Hilltoppers went 2-5 when allowing teams to run for over 190 yards - and one of those teams was Jacksonville State the first time around when it was playing at half speed - and 6-1 when allowing that many yards or fewer. That's why … Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Key Player Mackavelli Malotumau, DT former Nevada tackle isn't massive - he's a 6-1, 290-pound anchor - but he's got the leverage to hold up on the nose. That's the hope after making 25 tackles with a sack in two years for the Wolf Pack. If he and 305-pound Norfolk State transfer Eric Etienne can hold up, the WKU D will quickly change. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Top Transfer, Biggest Transfer Loss Top Transfer In: Maverick McIvor, QB would be nice if he was a bit more of a runner, but over his three years at Abilene Christian, McIvor grew into a whale of a passer throwing for over 3,800 yards and 30 scores last year. He's ready right out of the box to take over the attack and start pushing it down the Transfer Out: Hosea Wheeler, DT might be more talented players gone through the portal - Rodney Newsom should be a whale of a guard for South Carolina - but Wheeler is exactly who this year's team could've used for the defensive interior. The CUSA all-star is now at Indiana after making 75 tackles last year. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Key Game Sam Houston, Aug. 23If you really and truly want to dream big, the biggest game might be at Toledo on September 6th. Win that, and with a freakishly light schedule, 11-1 in the regular season isn't an insane goal. But Sam Houston will be dangerous, it's the Conference USA opener, and it's a home game that has to show the team is back up to speed right out of the gate.- 2025 WKU Hilltoppers Schedule Breakdown Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Top 10 Players 1. Marshall Jackson, OT Sr.2. Maverick McIvor, QB Sr.3. Jaylen Lewis, S Jr.4. Kent Robinson, CB Sr.5. Kennon Loftin, LB Jr.6. Matthew Henry, WR Sr.7. Anthony Breckenridge, LB Sr.8. La'Vell Wright, RB Sr.9. Cole Maynard, P Sr.10. Mackavelli Malotumau, DT Sr. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers 2024 Fun Stats - Rushing Yards: Opponents 3,097, WKU 1,524- Fumbles: WKU 22 (lost 12), Opponents 17 (lost 10) - Time of Possession: Opponents 32:10, WKU 27:50 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers 2025 Season Prediction, Win Total, What Will Happen This isn't one of Tyson Helton's best teams, but it might have the best about the paycheck game at LSU, and going to Toledo is dangerous, but that's it. Jacksonville State is in a total rebuilding mode, a road game at Louisiana Tech could be interesting, but whatever. This is one of the easiest schedules in college football, and WKU has to take full advantage of it. There are too many new parts to expect any sort of consistency over the first half of the campaign, and there will be a few blown tires - like, maybe against Middle Tennessee or in the opener against Sam Houston - but it'll be another season with eight more more wins, and another season in the mix for the Conference USA The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Win Total At … 8Likely Wins: FIU, North Alabama50/50 Games: at Delaware, at Jacksonville State, at Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, at Missouri State, Nevada, New Mexico State, Sam Houston, at ToledoLikely Losses: at LSU © 2025 The Arena Group Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
USA Today
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Rich Rodriguez at least has a sense of humor over not taking Alabama football coaching job
Rich Rodriguez at least has a sense of humor over not taking Alabama football coaching job "Where's my trophy in Tuscaloosa? Where's my statue outside there? Because if I had gone there you probably wouldn't have those six national championships."@WVUfootball head coach Rich Rodriguez spoke w/ @JoshPateCFB about being in running for the Alabama job back in 2006 — CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) April 30, 2025 Rich Rodriguez has an interesting place in Alabama football lore, a common name bandied about whenever discussions turn to college football's great "what-if" scenarios. In December 2006, Alabama was in search of another head coach -- its fifth in six years, if you count Mike Price's legendary-for-all-the-wrong-seasons "tenure." Athletics director Mal Moore had just moved on from Mike Shula after four seasons at the helm, and Rodriguez appeared set to become the next coach of the Crimson Tide. Only Rodriguez backed out after reportedly agreeing to a deal in principle, and someone else with deep ties to the state of West Virginia took the Alabama job: Nick Saban. Saban led the Tide back to their rightful place as the envy of every other major college football program by winning six national championships and nine SEC titles over the next 17 seasons. Rodriguez? He stayed in Morgantown but for only one more season after taking the Michigan Wolverines' coaching job. Things didn't work out in three seasons in Ann Arbor, but he found success as Arizona's head coach by leading the Wildcats to five winning seasons in six years from 2012-2017. He's now back at West Virginia after making a few other coaching stops along the way, most recently at Jacksonville State. Through the years, Rodriguez has repeatedly maintained a healthy and often self-deprecating sense of humor about his decision to back out of the Alabama job. It's something he reiterated again on Wednesday in a sit-down with CBS Sports' Josh Pate. "Somebody did a story about that because obviously with Coach Saban's success, he was the greatest college football coach ever," Rodriguez said. "What I tell everybody, I said, 'Remember, I didn't go to Alabama the year before.' And some of the things that happened then that (kept) me here came up later on, too, one year later." Rodriguez said jokingly: "But I always tell the story: 'Where's my trophy in Tuscaloosa? Where's my statue outside there? Because if I had gone there, you probably wouldn't have those six national championships and all that." Of that there is no doubt, but given hindsight and how his decision ultimately benefited Alabama, it's hard to be too upset at Rodriguez for spurning the Crimson Tide many moons ago. Watch the full clip below: Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion.
New York Times
18-04-2025
- Business
- New York Times
The evolution of the college football general manager, from consigliere to celebrity
During his first two weeks back at West Virginia in December, Rich Rodriguez got a little overwhelmed. The to-do list for the head coach's second stint leading the Mountaineers looked a lot different than it had for his first, which began 24 years ago. With college football's early signing period passed and its transfer portal open, Rodriguez immediately began recruiting the first of more than 35 new players (not including 21 high school recruits signed days before he arrived). He planned to hire a general manager, the modern-day head of a program's roster management operation, but didn't finalize the move until early January. Advertisement In the meantime, the tasks of dealing with agents and negotiating player salaries— foreign concepts to an early-2000s coach — fell on Rodriguez's shoulders. 'It was crazy,' he said. 'I was like, 'This is why you need other people.'' Across college football, employing a general manager has become table stakes for programs that are serious about talent acquisition. A GM's role can vary, but in most cases, that person oversees all aspects of roster construction: high school recruiting, the transfer portal, name, image and likeness compensation and — once the House v. NCAA settlement is approved — a revenue sharing payroll. Some programs have prioritized hires with NFL experience to help navigate an offseason that looks more professionalized by the day, especially with contract negotiations and NFL-style holdouts playing out in increasingly public forums. In 2025, the GM has become one of the most important athletic department hires a school can make. But college football GMs aren't an overnight invention. They're a movement nearly 20 years in the making, with the largest roots tracing to some of the sport's most storied programs. Major rules changes accelerated general managers' evolution from back-office grunts to one of the most influential people in the building. And their profile is only rising. 'The job of the recruiters and the departments now is less about managing cookie cakes and official visits and much more about managing a $22 million salary cap,' said Matt Dudek, who as an Arizona staffer under Rodriguez in 2016 became the first in college football to hold the GM title. Three hires in the last six months have helped bring college football GMs closer to household name status. Stanford took a bold step by giving alumnus Andrew Luck, the former Indianapolis Colts quarterback and Heisman Trophy finalist, something no other college GM has: decision-making power over the entire football program. Luck's control, which closely mirrors what a typical NFL GM has, became crystal clear when he announced the firing of head coach Troy Taylor last month in the wake of investigations into the coach's 'aggressive and hostile behavior' toward colleagues. Advertisement Michael Lombardi, who arrived at North Carolina alongside Bill Belichick, brought something none of his college peers had: 30 years of experience in NFL front offices, including one as the GM. Oklahoma made a splash in February by hiring Jim Nagy, the longtime executive director of the Senior Bowl and a former NFL exec. Nagy and the front office he constructs will work 'alongside' Venables, the school announced, rather than under the head coach, as most college GMs do. UNC is paying Lombardi $1.5 million, the highest known salary of any college football GM and more than some Group of 5 head coaches make. Oklahoma will pay Nagy $750,000, which is also on the high end for a GM. USC is believed to be paying Chad Bowden, hired from Notre Dame in January, around seven figures, while Alabama GM Courtney Morgan is getting paid $825,000 and Texas Tech GM James Blanchard surpassed $500,000 with his recent contract extension after an aggressive pursuit by Notre Dame. Those salaries, and the hiring of Luck and Nagy by somebody other than the head coach, send a message. 'It shows that athletic directors and administrators are valuing the acquirers of talent at the level of coordinators,' said Cody Bellaire, a former recruiting staffer at LSU, Texas A&M, Baylor and Texas Tech who now works at On3. 'They see that they are one of the five most important people in those buildings.' A few forward-thinking coaches opened the door for GMs to gain influence, Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire chief among them. McGuire made Blanchard his first hire when he took the Texas Tech job three years ago and promised Blanchard autonomy to offer recruits or transfers without prior approval from assistant coaches or even McGuire himself. 'I told him, 'The only person in that building who can tell you 'No' is me,'' McGuire said. Blanchard was long believed to be the only GM in college football with that freedom. Advertisement To coaches who are accustomed to having the final word on every detail, it seems like heresy. McGuire shrugs it off, because the two have been together for six years and rarely disagree on evaluations. 'It's not like I have any less power. I just have a guy that I believe in 100 percent,' McGuire said. 'It's about efficiency and trust.' It works for Texas Tech, which signed consecutive top-30 recruiting classes for the first time in more than a decade in 2023 and 2024. This offseason, using deep pockets and an organized approach, the Red Raiders inked one of the nation's top transfer portal classes. Blanchard turned down an offer to become Notre Dame's GM in part because of the control he has in Lubbock. 'People in personnel need to thank Coach McGuire,' Blanchard said. 'Because if he hadn't been vocal about 'Yes, this is how we do it, this is what I allow my personnel staff to do,' I'm not sure if a lot of people around college football (personnel) would be as far as they are now.' But it took years to get that far. The first known use of the title 'director of player personnel' in college football — the precursor to the general manager — was the result of a road trip Geoff Collins and Matt Rhule shared from Dallas to Cullowhee, N.C., in January 2006. The two Western Carolina assistants were driving home from the AFCA Convention, where then-Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey had offered Collins a job as the school's director of high school relations. Collins wanted to be an on-field coach, but he was also motivated to return to FBS football, so he took the job but asked Gailey if he could have a different title. 'I don't care what you call yourself, I just want you to come here and help us recruit,' Collins recalls Gailey telling him. During that 14-hour journey, Collins and Rhule brainstormed. They noticed NFL executives had director of player personnel titles. 'I'm not sure if I even knew what it meant,' Collins joked, but that's where they landed, DPP. A month later, Collins was announced as a member of the Yellow Jackets in the newly created position. Advertisement Collins wrote letters, organized phone calls, managed the recruiting board and acquired game tape. He also recruited five prospects from outside Georgia Tech's typical footprint. The Yellow Jackets turned in a top-15 recruiting class in his one year there, after not having one higher than 50th in the five seasons before his arrival. Nick Saban hired Collins at Alabama in 2007 to install an NFL-style personnel apparatus. In Tuscaloosa, Collins went from a one-man band to the leader of a five-person staff, which included an assistant DPP, Patrick Suddes (who later headed up personnel at Texas, Auburn, Arizona State, Georgia Tech and North Carolina), and a graduate assistant, Lance Taylor (now Western Michigan's head coach). Collins excelled but left after one season for the linebackers coach job at UCF. In 2009, Ed Marynowitz became Alabama's DPP at 24 and took the department to a new level. He built an army of student workers who prepared film and filtered through prospects using physical benchmarks specified by Saban. Each position coach was assigned a student, who worked like an area scout for the assistants. Marynowitz put the student workers through 'scout school' and had NFL scouts who passed through campus speak to them. While the Tide went on a seven-year run of No. 1 recruiting classes, Alabama personnel staffers — both full-timers and student assistants — began landing jobs at other programs, hired either by opposing coaches hoping to get a taste of the secret sauce or by former Saban assistants who wanted to set up similar operations when they landed head coaching jobs. The first time a student assistant landed a full-time gig elsewhere, which paid less than $30,000 at the time, it was a revelation. 'We were like, 'Holy crap, this can be a profession for us?'' said Oregon chief of staff Marshall Malchow, a former Alabama staffer. 'We had no idea that this would turn into something we could actually do for a living.' Years before he was Ohio State's personnel ace, Mark Pantoni found his way into the Florida recruiting office as a student volunteer in 2006. He showed up at 6:30 a.m. every day and prepared mailings for the coaches to send out to recruits. He cataloged film and hosted recruiting visits. Pantoni did such a good job that word eventually got back to Urban Meyer, who offered him a full-time recruiting job, paying him $25,000. Pantoni became part of a two-person staff that managed the entire recruiting operation. His work ethic and eye for talent facilitated his move up the ladder. When Meyer took over at Ohio State, he hired Pantoni to run personnel, and Pantoni remains in Columbus as Ryan Day's GM. Advertisement Without many peers in the industry, Marynowitz and Pantoni leaned on each other, trading notes and building a bond. In 2018, they spearheaded the first personnel and recruiting symposium in Nashville, a convention for staffers in the industry. The first edition had roughly 70 attendees, Pantoni said. Last year, the symposium drew more than 700 people, including NFL scouts. For personnel directors to break through from behind-the-scenes recruiting staffers to front-facing influencers, they needed head coaches who empowered them. As important as Saban and Meyer were to the personnel movement, their autocratic styles meant no one would rise quite that high. Ed Orgeron had a different vision. Taking over as LSU's coach in 2016, he had his strengths: recruiting and coaching defense, specifically, the defensive line. For everything else, he needed a confidant, and Austin Thomas fit the bill. 'They'd watch film in staff meetings and every coach would go through and give his opinion and the guy who had the last voice was Austin Thomas,' Bellaire said. 'We knew that wasn't normal … and it was clear how much he meant to the operation.' Thomas viewed his GM title holistically, helping run the program from input on staff hires to operating budget and roster management. 'Coach O had a vision for understanding how big the college football world and management of an organization had become,' Thomas said. 'He allowed someone to handle the off-the-field aspects at a high level.' Eight years ago, the GM title in college football may have seemed odd. There was no transfer portal or free agency, players weren't getting paid above the table, and recruiting still largely involved signing 25 high school players per year. But Thomas, Pantoni and Marynowitz thought bigger. 'I look at them as pioneers,' said Brian Spilbeler, vice president of the scouting service Tracking Football, which works with personnel departments. 'They didn't think it was some flash in the pan. They believed this is where college football is going.' Advertisement The transfer portal, instant eligibility for transfers and player compensation freedoms sparked an explosion in the personnel industry. Acquiring talent is the most important aspect of team building. 'If you only had 10 full-time coaches who had to manage that, it'd be impossible,' Collins said. Nineteen years after his road trip with Rhule, their placeholder title has become a full-blown movement. The stakes are higher than ever because the players are getting paid. Ohio State spent $20 million on its national championship roster. Texas Tech spent more than $10 million in this portal cycle. Transfer quarterbacks getting seven figures is the norm. The revenue sharing cap, if the House settlement is approved, will be $20.5 million for each school, most of which will be allocated to football. 'There's a financial implication to taking these players outside of their scholarship,' said Texas A&M GM Derek Miller. Miller has seen it all evolve firsthand. When he was Bowling Green's DPP in 2018, he was the only full-time recruiting staffer in the department. Now he oversees a 35-person operation at A&M, with a dozen full-timers and 23 students. He still evaluates and oversees recruiting, but talking to agents and negotiating contracts is his top priority. 'The job is a lot more forward-thinking than ever,' he said. 'The general manager role is as much NIL and contract conversations and the portal (as anything).' Will we see more people with the power Stanford gave Luck? Its rival program, Cal, has some donors demanding that Ron Rivera, the former NFL head coach whom the Bears hired as GM, be given similar power, according to SFGate. Some are skeptical of having a GM hired by someone other than the head coach. Malchow said he and Oregon coach Dan Lanning are attached at the hip. 'I would hate to be in a situation where he thinks I'm trying to change what he's doing,' Malchow said. 'In college football, the head coach is king.' Advertisement But Cooper Petagna, a former DPP at Washington and Oregon who now works for 247Sports, said the balance of power is shifting more to the middle. If a coaching change happens, it doesn't necessarily mean the personnel apparatus will change. 'I think that's a good thing,' he said. 'Now you have an insurance policy and continuity when a new coach comes in.' Said Dudek, 'I think if it works, it will become the new way.' Current and former GMs are still surprised at how quickly everything has changed. A decade ago, player personnel debates concerned schools' providing full cost of attendance and giving athletes three meals a day. And now, 'the kids have Lamborghinis in the parking lot,' Dudek said. Though hiring a GM may seem like a flavor-of-the-moment trend, it's the product of a long-term evolution. 'The rise of the GM has been rising for almost a decade,' Spilbeler said. 'It just wasn't called that.' Rodriguez, who coached before GMs or even DPPs existed in college football, now can't imagine functioning without one. In a rapidly evolving sport, they aren't going anywhere. 'That genie's not going back in the bottle,' he said. 'It's become one of the key positions and it's probably gonna stay that way.' (Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; Photos: David Madison, Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
