David Pollack Says WVU Needed Rich Rodriguez Like Oxygen

It didn't take long before West Virginia head football coach Rich Rodriguez had his first rant of fall camp. It happened on day two, to be exact, after the group of running backs didn't push through the entire practice without checking out. Well, two of them did.

“If we had no medical trainers, we probably would have zero injuries because they had nobody to go to. We got 30 of them," Rodriguez said. "So they’re like, ‘Oh, where’s the trainer at?’ I got a great training staff, but I’m just saying, like, what running backs finished the entire practice without tapping out somewhere? Two... Two. Now, I can play a game without running backs. I could run the quarterback or slot receiver, but I don’t want to. I’ve always had really good running backs, and I’ve got good running backs here. I got a good group, but we finished with two. So you think I’m not going to talk to my recruiting staff this afternoon? We’re running a business. It helps to have some running backs.”

Former ESPN College GameDay analyst and ex-Georgia linebacker David Pollack happened to stumble upon the clip of the above quote on Monday afternoon, and emphatically stated how important it is that a coach like Rich Rodriguez is in Morgantown.

Rich Rod doesn’t give a crap. and I freakin LOVE it!!
— David Pollack (@davidpollack47) August 4, 2025

No lies detected. Folks can argue all day long as to whether or not the university should have brought him back or if he's able to win at a high level in the Power Four in this era. The one thing, I assume, everyone can agree on is that the program desperately needed someone who could bring the energy back, provide optimism, and maybe most importantly, hold players accountable to the highest of standards. Rodriguez checks those boxes and then some.

Back while the search was ongoing, I stated a few times that WVU needed to land on a Dan Campbell-esque type of coach. A tough, hard-nosed, gritty guy who cares deeply, will push players to places they didn't think they could go, and play a physical brand of football. Again, Rodriguez checks those boxes.

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