Rich Rod Snaps at Reporter Over Negativity Toward Program

When West Virginia brought back Rich Rodriguez to lead the program in 2025, the buzz around Morgantown was hard to ignore. With the return of one of the most important coaches in school history and a dramatically revamped roster, the hope was that the Mountaineers could jumpstart a new era and bring some pride back to the program. But as the losses have piled up, including last weekend’s 45-13 embarrassment at UCF, that early optimism has given way to frustration and plenty of questions.

During a recent press conference, Rodriguez was asked whether the blowout loss to UCF served as a big-picture reminder of how far the program still has to go. The question itself hit a nerve. Rodriguez didn’t hide his frustration, firing back that the negativity surrounding the program was part of the problem and not something he planned to tolerate.

“You’re leading down a negative way, which is the exact problem that you have,” Rodriguez said. “It’s like, oh gosh, they’re struggling, we’re struggling. They’re first year, we’re first year, and look what they did. Yeah, we played awful, and they played better. But I’m not going to say we can’t fix our problems or that we’re far behind them. You can think that way, but I’m not, and our players won’t, and our program’s not.”

It was a telling moment from a head coach who is clearly battling not just results on the field but the narrative forming around his team off of it. That frustration is understandable. Both West Virginia and UCF entered the matchup without a Big 12 win, with rosters in flux and fan bases expecting better. The difference was that UCF looked sharp, well-coached, and explosive. West Virginia looked overmatched.

Still, Rodriguez’s stance is one of defiance. He’s not accepting that one bad loss defines the entire season or the rebuild underway. That type of mentality is something he’s determined to weed out from the inside.

There’s a long way to go in Morgantown, and no one is denying that. But if Rodriguez is going to get this program turned around, it will start with belief, inside the building first and everywhere else second.