By Bill Nestor
Parenting gets harder every day. Raising children in this day and age is much more difficult than it was when I was in the business. My kids have all grown and as I watch parents these days, I do not envy them at all. The game has changed in a way that the old school approach is difficult to utilize in today’s world.
Coaching is similar to parenting in several ways. Coaches feel like their players are just like their kids. They are trying to develop and nurture them. When players step out of line or don’t do what they are expected to do, then coaches will discipline their players to get them to conform. Ironically, the same old school approach to coaching it more difficult to apply to today’s athlete.
West Virginia Head Football Coach Rich Rodriguez is a throwback drillmaster that employs the old school “spare the ‘Rod’ spoil the player” philosophy. Rich Rod has been trying to get his new team to grasp his wants and desires. The problem is that several of them don’t want to be coached as hard as he coaches his players. He is a very demanding coach with the thought that practice should be much harder than the actual games. Therefore, the team will be more prepared for battle and have a much better chance of garnering wins.
It appears as if several of this year’s edition do not subscribe to that same belief. Rod wants his practices to be uptempo, which requires so much more effort than the average practice that many of his guys are used to. This caused a work stoppage at Milan Puskar Stadium. The blue flu or a sitdown on the gridiron by his players has caused the head ball coach to go to the media to get his point across.
Rich Rod mentioned his training staff the other day and how good they are compared to the old days. Back then, the norm was to play through some of the smaller injuries, but that has changed recently. In one early practice, the Mountaineers finished with just two healthy running backs. The lack of healthy backs prompted Rod to send a message to his players through the media.
He said that the recruiting class is actively looking for new players. Rod also stressed the importance of finding players committed to West Virginia who want to play for the Mountaineers. The transfer portal has given players leverage and that does not sit well with Rodriguez. It is his way or the highway and he is not backing down or catering to his players.
It is a standoff at the O.K. Corrall scenario taking place in Touchdown City. These players have no idea just how stubborn Rod can be are about to find out the hard way. If they want to suit up on Saturdays in the old gold and blue, they had better do what the third winningnest coach in program history says to do.
Personally, I would rather take on the toughest of practices than face the ire of Rodriguez.
That will do it for now. Until next week . . . take care and God Bless!!!
