The Hilarious Story About Xavier Bausley’s Dad Burning All His Rich Rod Gear, Pictures

Every once in a while, West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez will dig into his bag of stories to deliver some laughs in his press conferences, and on Friday, he told one about a player's dad that many Mountaineer fans can probably relate to.

Offensive lineman Xavier Bausley, a Dunbar, WV native, committed to Jacksonville State out of high school and spent his first two years playing for Rich Rod and the Gamecocks. Following a stellar redshirt freshman season, where he earned Freshman All-America Second Team honors by The Athletic, he entered the transfer portal and landed with the Mountaineers. One year later, Neal Brown is removed from his duties as head coach, and Rodriguez is named his replacement, reuniting the two.

“When I saw Bausley for the first time, I said, ‘Hey Xavier, I’m back.’ Are you going to leave again? He’s a West Virginia guy, so we had a big chuckle.

"Did I tell you the Bausley story? We were recruiting him at Jax State and him and his dad, they got a great family. Usually, when we talk, we have them fill out a form and say, ‘Hey, tell them something unique about you that we might want to know about you.’ He said, ‘My dad burned all the Rich Rod things, pictures, and everything in 2007. He put it on fire, cussed you out, and all that kind of stuff.’ I had a good laugh with his father about that. I said, ‘See now, you went and burned all your stuff, you might have already had some West Virginia stuff.’ Now he’s going to have to buy it all new.”

The reason you don't see much Rich Rod memorabilia is that it was burned by WVU fans. Autographed t-shirts, hats, and other items were all thrown into the fire 18 years ago when he departed for the Michigan job.

Now, for the most part, everyone seems to have forgiven Rich Rod, including Xavier's dad, Jason.

Bausley is in a battle for a starting job at offensive tackle this fall camp. Even if he doesn't win the job, he should be in a position to rotate into the game.

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