West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez is no stranger to roster rebuilds.
Last season, Rodriguez welcomed a total of 60 new players to the Jacksonville State roster and still managed to lead the Gamecocks to a 9-5 record and a Conference USA Championship.
This undertaking with the Mountaineers might actually end up being more as Rodriguez expects that the final number of newcomers will be around 70 of the 105 roster size.
Some of that is just the nature of college football in general with the rise of the transfer portal combined with a coaching change in Morgantown. Given the fact that last year’s team was senior-laden as well there was always going to be some holes to fill.
But going through that process last season taught Rodriguez some valuable lessons as that team started 0-3 before winning 9 of their last 11 games.
Now in his 28th year as a head coach, Rodriguez felt that the Gamecocks had that potential in the summer and the off-season but struggled out the gate.
“I said what am I missing? Some of it was just some of those new guys still getting used to the system and once they got it they got it and went on a roll and it was a completely different team,” he said.
But because of how things started last season, Rodriguez plans on doing a deep dive on his notes to attempt to avoid something similar unfolding during his first year atop the West Virginia program.
So, the veteran coach is trying to learn from his past.
“If there are things I can do better than last year, I sure as heck better do it,” he said.
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