Latest news with #Gold-BlueGame
Dominion Post
5 days ago
- Business
- Dominion Post
West Virginia's Rich Rodriguez appreciates new revenue share ruling, doesn't care about CFP format
MORGANTOWN — West Virginia's Rich Rodriguez hasn't spoken in front of the media in three months, and the rapid space of college athletics has seen massive changes in the time away from the podium. At the start of June, revenue sharing was announced, and more guardrails were applied, with a new College Sports Commissioner picked, in charge of regulating NIL. With over a decade of experience, Rodriguez witnessed the change of college athletics over the years and was vocal about how there needed to be a change. Now, there have been changes made, and Rodriguez gave his opinion at Big 12 Media Days. 'A lot better guardrails than a month ago,' Rodriguez said. 'I mean, it was a cluster for the last three or four years. All coaches are complaining about it, but it was just a mess, and nobody knew how to really solve it right away. And I still think we got it a lot better now with the cap and the rev share. But there's still a lot of work to do.' The new ruling isn't perfect, like Rodriguez said. Paying players directly is a step forward. The College Sports Commission could be too, but there's no telling how much jurisdiction it'll have over passing and denying NIL deals without lawsuits. Rodriguez still doesn't have his one transfer portal window, either, arguably his biggest issue. There's still work to do. Rodriguez wants athletic directors and Congress to lead the charge on shaping the future of collegiate athletics. 'Hopefully, smarter minds than myself will get that together,' Rodriguez said. 'I said this earlier today, I think they need to get the college athletic directors more input and more say in how college athletics is going to be run because these are the guys and the ladies that know what's best for the schools and what's best for the country in college athletics.' West Virginia's representative is athletic director Wren Baker. Baker and WVU athletics moved quickly on the new ruling, creating a revenue-sharing company, Gold & Blue Enterprise, to generate money. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yomark said WVU was the first school to integrate Venmo and PayPal to distribute revenue-sharing money. Baker is fully committed and determined that WVU athletics has everything necessary to compete at the highest level. Rodriguez appreciates the work Baker's done, and is glad he's WVU's athletic director. 'I've worked for a lot of really good ADs,' Rodriguez said. 'One or two, I wasn't sure about, but most of the ones I've worked with have been great. Wren has as good a grasp as anyone. I'm very fortunate. We're in good shape with Wren Baker.' The new court ruling isn't the only news that's emerged since Rodriguez's last press conference after the Gold-Blue Game. There've been talks about moving to a 5-plus-11 and 16-team College Football Playoff model in the future, meaning the Power Four conference champions get a bid, the highest rated conference champion, and then 11 at-large bids. Some SEC coaches wanted a 4-4-2-2 system, where the SEC and Big Ten would get four bids each, and the Big 12 and ACC would get two each. The consensus, though, is the 5-plus-11. Rodriguez cares a lot less about the College Football Playoff than NIL, revenue sharing, and the transfer portal. 'I don't give a sh*t,' Rodriguez said. 'I mean, my give a sh*t meter is a lot less than a lot of stuff. If you win the league, you're going to be in. Just win the league, like 5-11, all that stuff, whatever. I'm worried about just winning. Let's win the league. I ain't worried about, well, this team's going to vote here, what's this team going to vote there? If you're good enough, people will know you're in the top 12, whatever, it's good. We win all of our games. I guarantee we're in the playoffs.' Rodriguez still has his issues with college athletics, but he's not alone. There are a lot of coaches in just the Big 12 that have problems. Rodriguez made it clear where he stands and what he wants: more guardrails and one transfer portal. Those changes are looking like they're coming in the future. Despite his issues, Rodriguez still loves his main job, coaching WVU to win football games. 'I think we're in a better place now than we were a month ago,' Rodriguez. 'There's still some work to be done. We could complain as coaches, but hell, it's still a pretty good gig. You know what I mean? These are good jobs. There are a lot tougher jobs than being a college football coach. So like I said, I'm fortunate and blessed to have what I have.'
Dominion Post
6 days ago
- Sport
- Dominion Post
West Virginia's quarterback still undecided, Rich Rodriguez isn't concerned about position
FRISCO, Texas — FRISCO, Texas – The talk of Big 12 Media Days was the quarterback-dominated conference, and West Virginia football wasn't in those conversations because Rich Rodriguez still hasn't named the starter. Throughout the spring, Rodriguez kept his cards close to his chest, while fans were left to speculate based on who came out first in the Gold-Blue Game or who wore what jersey. Nobody could make an official conclusion until Rodriguez tipped his hand. Not having a starting quarterback in a quarterback league with Heisman Trophy contenders should make a head coach nervous, because in a couple of months, your inexperienced starter will face off against some of the best in college football with multiple games of experience. Rodriguez has a lot of options for a starter, making it harder. West Virginia's quarterback room houses redshirt junior Nicco Marchiol, Texas A&M graduate senior transfer Jaylen Henderson, Charlotte redshirt junior transfer Max Brown, redshirt junior Scott Kean, and three freshmen, who are just coming in this fall or redshirted last year. Despite the long list of options and the August 30 game with Robert Morris 50 days away, Rodrigeuz isn't nervous, even though he said it's the position a coach should worry about the most. 'I think that's probably the room I'm the least worried about, from an athletic and a talent standpoint,' Rodriguez said. 'I've got three guys who have played some games in college football. I've got a couple really good young players. We have the talent there. Now, they gotta learn our system. They gotta obviously get better individually at what they can do, but we gotta put the pieces around them as well.' Through speculation, the quarterbacks can be narrowed down a little to a group of three, the ones who have experience. Marchiol, Henderson, and Brown are the best options to land the role because of their previous college experience. Marchiol started some games for WVU last year, Henderson threw 78 passes for the Aggies last year, and Brown played five games for the 49ers. The three have been training this summer to improve their chances of the starting spot. Marchiol posted on social media, showing his offseason workouts, while Henderson also did around the same time. The two weren't working out together, but have been behind the scenes with the rest of the group. Center Landen Livingston said the quarterbacks have done a 'great job' this summer and spring setting up workouts together. For a center, having multiple signal callers might seem daunting with different needs, but Livingston hasn't been hindered. 'Being part of the O-line, being the center, my job is to protect whoever's back there, and that'll be my job,' Livingston said. 'We're just focused on getting the job done. When push comes to shove, you gotta make a play.' Receiver Jaden Bray said the same about working with different quarterbacks without knowing the starter. In unsupervised practice, Bray said all the quarterbacks get together with the receivers and just rotate, forgetting about who's with the ones, twos or threes. 'There's no like, even set ones, twos or threes,' Bray said. 'I just line up, run the route, catch a ball. It's been easy. It's been fun.' WVU isn't the only one in the Big 12 without a starting quarterback. Colorado's Deion Sanders brought two quarterbacks to Big 12 Media Day because he didn't know who to start. Oklahoma State also doesn't have a quarterback. Rodriguez hasn't made a decision and might not until gameday. Even after naming a starter, don't count out WVU rotating quarterbacks during the game, based on how Rodriguez sounds. In just a couple of weeks, fall camp starts up, and the quarterback competition will ensue again, with Rodriguez not worried about it. 'It's gonna be a fun quarterback competition,' Rodriguez said. 'I'm hoping I have three I can win with. I think we do. Now, if we have two that we can win with, I'll play both of them. If I have three, I'll play all three of them, but I have a good quarterback room, I think.'
