Rich Rodriguez Calls College Football ‘NFL on Steroids’

While it’s no secret that college football is in an awful spot, West Virginia‘s new head coach, Rich Rodriguez, made a powerful statement about just how tough things are.

Rodriguez recently appeared on the College GameDay Podcast with Rece Davis and Pete Thamel and referred to college football’s current landscape as the “NFL on steroids.”

“The goalposts have certainly moved a long way, and you have to adapt to it,” Rodriguez said. “You just throw your hands up. It’s really hard to build a program when you have open free agency every year.”

“The NIL and paying them is one part,” Rodriguez continued. “It’s like the NFL on steroids. But the biggest part is the open free agency. There’s no rookie salary cap, there’s no three-year contracts. That makes it really, really difficult. But that is what it is.”

In his first year back in Morgantown, Rodriguez has answered the call admirably, putting together an impressive class of incoming talent through the transfer portal. The Mountaineers sit at No. 4 in the Big 12 regarding overall class rankings, and No. 31 in the country.

Rodriguez finished his thoughts by expressing his commitment to creating a positive culture, saying, “You’ve got to be open and honest with your players. We’ve done that – we’ve tried to do that in the last four or five months – and that way, our culture’s going to be set for not just now, but next year and the year after that.”

Rodriguez will get his first shot back on the sidelines in Morgantown when West Virginia kicks off their season on Saturday, August 30th, vs. Robert Morris.