Some former West Virginia Mountaineers are throwing Rich Rodriguez under the bus now that they've departed the program.
Multiple former players have spoken out about Rodriguez and his style of coaching over the past couple of days, and they're not exactly giving praise or sharing fuzzy memories. What drew the most attention was former starting running back Jahiem White, who played one season for Rodriguez and two seasons for Neal Brown in Morgantown, took time on an Instagram Live session to take shots at multiple aspects of the program culture under Rodriguez.
“Rich Rod doesn’t allow any fun. It’s all work. The practices were too hard, too much, and that’s why so many of our players got hurt," White said. “Nobody likes Rich Rodriguez in the locker room. It’s all work and no fun with him as head coach.”
White, who rushed for over 1,700 yards an 14 touchdowns for WVU, was injured most of his lone season under Rodriguez after an ACL injury in Week 2 against Ohio. He hinted at a WVU return following the season, but abruptly entered the transfer portal just days later and has since committed to North Texas, where Brown just landed the head coaching job.
The comments quickly piled in on White's Instagram Live session, including one from Josiah Trotter – who played linebacker for two seasons under Neal Brown at WVU, but entered the transfer portal after Rodriguez was hired. His comment simply read "nobody fw Rich in the locker room," seeming to support White's initial statement on Rodriguez's locker room popularity with his players. Of course, it is important to note that Trotter never played for Rodriguez at WVU. Though he certainly was likely close with a number former teammates on the roster this past season that could share that information with him.
Not long after, the official account on X, formerly known as Twitter, for The Coal Country Podcast shared that they have heard several former players share the same position on Rodriguez, though no further names were discussed.
It's not the first time such differences between Brown's tenure at WVU and Rodriguez's tenure were highlighted, such as last spring when linebacker Reid Carrico talked about Rodriguez's practices being "more up-tempo" that Brown's. It's also no secret that Rodriguez's "hard edge" mantra and culture isn't for everyone, and is a more old-school approach.
And while whether this ends up being an early sign or a larger issue or just a few former players with a grudge, or if these sentiments will be felt by multiple iterations of this team across multiple seasons, Rodriguez not having the roster fully bought in in 2025 could explain some of the struggles to win. It's an issue he'll likely be working to fix next season, though some of the issue could have been the combination of missed evaluations in a massive transfer portal rebuild combined with several players transitioning from one coach to another. For now, it's worth keeping an eye on entering the upcoming season, but also potentially nothing to make a big deal about. One thing that's for certain? That answer will reveal itself in due time.