Travis Trickett serves as the senior offensive assistant for the West Virginia football program.
That title is somewhat unique but one that aptly describes his responsibilities on the coaching staff. Trickett, who got his coaching start as a student assistant under Rich Rodriguez from 2003-06, returns to Morgantown where he will essentially serve as the right-hand-man to the head coach.
Rodriguez has structured his staff much like a professional one where he will serve as the offensive coordinator and play caller, and everything must be filtered through him. Trickett essentially served as a facilitator to make sure that the standard that Rodriguez demands is being met in all areas.
And Trickett, who has served in essentially every offensive role over his career outside leading the offensive line including ten years as a coordinator, embraces the challenge.
“This allows me to make sure from a situational standpoint, coach is talking about situational football, I’m emphasizing it to the entire offense,” Trickett said.
That means make sure that everything is done the way that Rodriguez wants it to be done and holding players to that standard so while the former is calling plays Trickett can ensure there is no drop-off across the board.
But it isn’t just limited to that. When West Virginia needed a new running backs and inside wide receivers coach it was Trickett that stepped in to fill those roles until a permanent replacement was found.
“Football is relative especially for skill positions so once you’re able to coach multiple positions and spend time there with the details it carries over to other positions,” Trickett said.
The opportunity to work with Rodriguez is something that he always wanted to do in his coaching career and to be able to do it at the school he graduated from and where he calls home makes it even more special.
Trickett had previous been on staff under former head coach Neal Brown as the inside receivers/tight ends coach from 2019-21 but this experience is a little different considering the return of Rodriguez.
Trickett even told the story that when he first got a full-time job as the inside wide receivers/tight ends coach at Samford and was making $30,000 on one of the security passwords, which he’s since changed, was his dream job. The answer was of course West Virginia.
It’s the place where his wife went to school and the connections with the rest of his family including dad Rick who coached for the Mountaineers and his brother Clint who played at the school.
“So, this job means a lot more to myself and my family than it does the average bear,” he said. So, to be able to do it with the guy I care about and a staff of people that I care about it’s much more. There is no ego.”
That’s a critical piece considering Trickett had been the offensive coordinator at his previous two stops at South Florida and Coastal Carolina.
But given the fact he has been in that role, Trickett understands all too-well having somebody that you can lean on in all aspects whether that’s game-planning, play-calling or organizational.
“Whatever he needs in whatever aspect whether that’s one game day, whether it’s in prep, whether it’s in recruiting or personnel decisions and all that kind of stuff. Whatever he needs me to do to help assist him with that that’s what I’m going to do. I know how ...
