Rich Rodriguez's "Tour of Duty": Behind the scenes of the infamous WVU football workout

It's no secret that West Virginia Head Football Coach Rich Rodriguez is the type of guy who demands a lot out of his players. After all, we are talking about a coach that coined the term "Hard Edge" to describe how he wants his teams to play.

Since it was announced that Rodriguez would return to WVU football for his second stint at the helm of the program, one particular off-season activity that has garnered some buzz amongst the fanbase is Rodriguez's mysterious "Tour of Duty." It was first name-dropped by former WVU players and media members Pat McAfee and Pacman Jones when discussing Rich Rod's return. Then, on Thursday morning, the WVU football account on social media site X/Twitter posted a photo of players engaged in what appeared to be some sort of winter workout captioned with the phrase.

However, with all the talk about the "Tour of Duty," there are many in the fanbase and outside the program who are quite unsure exactly what the phrase means or what activities make up said "tour." With all the mystery surrounding it, HailWV sat down with former in-state star football player Dustin Crouser to get the scoop on the "Tour of Duty"

Crouser played linebacker at NCAA Division 2 program West Virginia State after a stint at the Division 1 level with Charlotte. He was a multi-time All-American and led all of Division 2 with 132 total tackles during the 2019 season -- more importantly for our purposes, however, is that he played at West Virginia State under coach John Pennington.

WVU fans may remember Pennington for his time as a three-year letterman under Rodriguez at WVU, where he hauled in a huge fourth-down touchdown reception known as "The Catch" during the 2003 Backyard Brawl, which helped the Mountaineers beat their bitter rival and earn a share of the Big East title. Pennington got to experience the "Tour of Duty" during his stint with the Mountaineers, and decided to implement a version of itself as a coach that Crouser claimed he "still has nightmares" about.

While the name gives off heavy military vibes, the "Tour of Duty" has nothing to do with military service -- although Crouser said it does essentially function as a "football boot camp."

"It is basically an accountability, mental toughness, and team camaraderie builder," Crouser told HailWV.

Crouser did mention that this is how he experienced the "Tour of Duty" under Coach Pennington and that it may differ a bit from Rodriguez's version, but gave a basic rundown of what he experienced during the "Tour of Duty."

"Each coach has a station of some type of conditioning. For instance one station would be 5-10-5s, one station would be cone drills, one station could be lunges with weight on your back. Usually about 8 stations," Crouser said.

But it doesn't stop with an average, run-of-the-mill, station-based conditioning program -- there's also a built-in penalty system that penalizes you for just about any mistake in the book.

"But the main thing is that the coaches are on your ass about every single detail. If you messed up in any way, you got a 'check mark.' Loafs are the main reasons for check marks, meaning the coach thought you weren’t giving all your effort on that rep," Crouser said.

"But missed lines, stepping on cones, dropping weights when not supposed all get a player a check. Basically it is a reason for the coaches to be on your ass about every little detail and teaches the players to pay attention to detail."

But if you thought the penalty was something to be arbitrarily doled out at a later date, or if it just affected your shot at earning playing time the next season, think again. Things aren't necessarily so easy inside a Rodriguez-ran program. Those 'check mark' penalties make a nasty reappearance at the end of each "Tour of Duty" workout.

"At the end of the stations, how ever many checks each player had, that’s how many sprints they had to run at the end. Some people would get upwards of 50 checks in one workout and guess what? 50 sprints at the end," Crouser said.

So it appears the WVU football athletes are currently in the midst of what works out as football boot camp, and not a particularly easy one. And anyone doubting whether the mental toughness of WVU football will be where it needs to next year, it's safe to say those who excel during this winter's "Tour of Duty" will likely be aptly prepared to handle whatever is thrown at them this coming fall.