Rich Rod Isn't Losing Sleep Over WVU's Big 12 Outlook

Low expectations are not going to define this Mountaineer football team in 2026. Expectations are exactly what they are...expectations.

WVU Athletics Communications

Very few outside the Mountain State expect the West Virginia Mountaineers to do much of anything in Rich Rodriguez's second year back as the head coach in Morgantown, but a lot of that is because of the large roster turnover and coming off the heels of a 4-8 season.

But it takes just a few minutes to compare the two rosters side by side to realize that there is a massive difference in the caliber of talent on both sides of the ball. This year's group, while still young, has more experience and production than the 2025 team and by a rather wide margin.

Although it's only one day into fall camp, Rich Rodriguez feels confident about his team and couldn't care less about the low expectations everyone has for them.

“Yeah," he responded when asked if he is surprised by the poor outlook after landing a strong high school and portal class, "But I don’t really… a lot of that is good talking points for fans and for you all to do that, but I’ve never really worried about where that was. You could say, ‘Well, they picked you to be not very good; that should be great motivation,’ but well, okay… does that motivate you anymore? No, you’re going to work as hard as you are supposed to work, no matter where they pick you, whether they pick you first or last. But I do think you have to have the kind of discipline and mindset to prove yourself. And if you ever get to the point where you feel like you have nothing to prove, you ought to quit the game. I never understood that. If they’re keeping score, you have something to prove. Irregardless of what happened last week, last year, or ten years ago.”

Rodriguez did mention that he told the team about how nearly everyone is picking them to finish toward the bottom of the Big 12 Conference, but once again noted that motivation only takes you so far.

"I’d rather have discipline because motivation is good for a little bit, but I’d rather have the type of discipline you need to have to win because discipline is greater than motivation because it’s there all the time. We have a lot of things to motivate us, and that’s good, but we have to have the proper discipline to get to where we want this program to be, and that’s a process.”

In about two weeks, Rodriguez will have a better feel for where this team is, and that's mentally as well. That being said, he was pleased with how things went this offseason, dating all the way back to winter workouts. If they are where he thinks they will be by September 5th, the Mountaineers will turn some heads and prove a lot of people wrong this fall.