Rich Rodriguez doesn’t pretend to have all the answers for college football’s mess. What he does have is a pretty clear idea of what would help: fewer loopholes, fewer exceptions and a lot less room for people to game the system.
The West Virginia coach said the sport would be better off with rules that are simple and firm, the kind that can’t be dragged into court and overturned. In his view, college athletics needs more clarity and less chaos.
"I'm just a believer that the simpler you make it and the more hard-and-fast rules you have that you can't take to a local judge to overturn, the better off we're going to be," he said. "We're on the steps to the right way."
Rodriguez pointed to the NCAA’s age-based eligibility model, also known as the 5-for-5 rule, as a step in that direction. He said it has cleaned up a system that had become tangled in redshirts, waivers and endless exceptions.
"Instead of having 27-year-old guys that played in three different G Leagues or played professionally -- you know, 'I played Australian Rules football for eight years, so I still got four years left.' -- I think it brings some clarity to it," Rodriguez said.
For Rodriguez, the bigger issue is that common sense has been too slow to show up in college sports. He said regional matchups should make more sense than some of the modern conference pairings, asking why West Virginia should play Texas Tech and SMU should play Virginia Tech when the opposite matchups would seem more natural.
"Shouldn't common sense prevail?" he said.
"We need some common sense in college athletics. Are you going to tell me that what's going on right now is what's good for the sport?
No. I don't know how you pay somebody half a million dollars and he's not an employee. either.
I don't want to figure that out."
He also questioned the logic behind paying recruits to visit and handing out massive promises to freshmen before they’ve done anything at the next level. But he said he didn’t want to turn the conversation into a lecture or a rant.
What he wants instead is a real say in how the sport is run.
"There's nothing that can't be fixed, and there are administrators and commissioners that are smart enough to fix it," he said. "I don't want input.
I want a vote. I can give you my opinion, and that's good, but I want to have the ability to vote on, 'This is what we do.'
I think the people in charge realize the train is rolling down the track, and it's not slowing down whatsoever."
In Other News...
BYU Just Landed In The Middle Of A Wild Big 12 Debate
A recent On3 Coaches Poll offered a pretty clear snapshot of how wide open the Big 12 feels heading into the season, and BYU came out as the choice most coaches trusted to win the conference. That alone says plenty about the leagues balance of power, especially with Texas Tech, Utah, Houston, Arizona and Iowa State also drawing support in a vote that seemed to spread confidence around rather than concentrate it.
For West Virginia fans, the broader takeaway is familiar: there is no consensus answer in this league, only a cluster of teams with enough talent and intrigue to keep the conversation moving. The poll underscored just how unpredictable the Big 12 can be from year to year, with coaches clearly seeing a conference where the title race could tilt in several directions before it ever reaches the finish line. [Read more 🡒]
Rich Rod Just Said What Frustrated WVU Fans Have Wanted Heard
West Virginias place in the Big 12 has long come with a built-in headache: the travel, the geography and the sense that the Mountaineers are often fighting uphill just to keep old regional ties alive. At Big 12 Media Day, Rich Rodriguez leaned into that frustration and put a cleaner frame around what many WVU fans have been saying for years, pushing for a future realignment built around regional groupings that would make the league feel a little more like home.
Rodriguez also floated a broader fix for the sports money problem, arguing that Power Four schools should pool TV revenue into one large package and spread it more evenly. The idea fits the same theme as the regional reset, but it is still more vision than reality, with the current conference and media setup unlikely to change quickly and the bigger college football revenue model still very much an open question. [Read more 🡒]
WVU Is Making One Last Exception For Pat Whites No. 5
West Virginia is planning a long-awaited salute to Pat Whites No. 5, with a ceremony set for Sept. 5, 2026, during the season opener against Coastal Carolina. The tribute will come as part of a White Out, giving the program a fitting stage to recognize one of its most iconic quarterbacks while finally moving toward an official jersey retirement.
The timing, though, comes with one last wrinkle before the number is taken out of circulation. Head coach Rich Rodriguez announced the plan, and the university has opted to delay the formal retirement for another season, leaving one more chapter to play out before No. 5 is permanently set aside. [Read more 🡒]