12/26/02 - Winning Agenda

Had the timing been different, Rich Rodriguez might be leading the Cavaliers rather than the Mountaineers into Saturday's Continental Tire Bowl game in Charlotte.

When former Virginia coach George Welsh was mulling over possible retirement in the latter stages of the 2000 season, then-UVa athletic director Terry Holland tried to get a feel for whether Rodriguez might have had interest in the job. Rodriguez had become one of the hottest job prospects in the country after revolutionizing Clemson's offense.

In two years as the Tigers' offensive coordinator, Rodriguez watched a Woody Dantzler-led unit break 69 Clemson records. But as the season rushed to an end and Welsh waffled on his decision, West Virginia began its own job search. Legendary Mountaineer Coach Don Nehlan was calling it quits after 20 years and Rodriguez, who came to Morgantown as a walk-on and eventually played for Nehlan, was the prime target.

"There were some conversations," Rodriguez said about the Virginia job.

When momma came a callin', Rodriguez jumped at the chance. Born and raised in West Virginia, Rodriguez hopes to retire there. He recently was rewarded a new, seven-year, $6 million contract for turning around the Mountaineers from 3-8 in 2001 to 9-3 this season.

"I could see myself coaching here and only here for the rest of my career," Rodriguez said. "And that's my intention."

Crossroads

Who knows what may have happened had Welsh been ready to pull the retirement trigger earlier.

"It has worked out well for both schools," said Rodriguez. "I have a great amount of respect for the whole university community there [in Charlottesville] and the town. I can see why so many people are high on the school."

Of course, Virginia went on to

hire alum Al Groh, who hasworked the same kind of miracles in Charlottesville that Rodriguez has in Morgantown.

Both men have earned the respect and admiration of their schools and hordes of fans.

Coach Rod, as he is called in his state, knew that following a legend wouldn't be easy.

"It was the first time in 20 years there had been a transition here, new schemes in all phases of the game, different ways of practicing and all that," said Rodriguez. "It's tough to adapt to change. We had to sell that and get the players to buy into it.

"It's always tougher replacing a coach who has won a lot of games and had a lot of success. Even though I'm from here and some folks were excited about me coming back, when you replace the all-time winningest coach at the school, that's a little different."

Coaching transition. Rodriguez also had to deal with coaching staff changes. He knew most of Nehlan's staff, some of whom had been around since he played there in the early '80s. Having to get rid of some of those guys was a painful experience.

"The toughest part of the transition was about which coaches to rehire," said Rodriguez. "But you have to pick a staff that's perfect for what you're trying to accomplish."

Certainly none of the old WVU coaches were versed in the system that Rodriguez developed when he became the youngest head football coach in the nation in 1988. He was 24-years-old when he took over Salem College in West Virginia.

After only a year on the job, Salem gave up football and Rodriguez became a volunteer assistant at WVU before landing the head-coaching job at Glenville State, also in West Virginia. That's where he really developed his offensive idea, a no-huddle, spread offense that has been virtually unstoppable everywhere he has installed it.

His teams led the nation in total offense and scoring at Glenville prior to him becoming offensive coordinator for Tommy Bowden at Tulane. His innovative offense rewrote the Tulane record books, breaking 26 Green Wave records in 1997. The following season, Rodriguez's offense was the only one in the nation to average more than 300 yards passing and 200 yards rushing per game as the Wave went undefeated and averaged 4.54 points per game.

When Bowden was named head coach at Clemson, he was quick to point out that the whole key of the move was convincing Rodriguez to become offensive coordinator. Tulane overlooked Rodriguez as Bowden's successor. Big mistake.

At Clemson, Rodriguez's offense tore up the ACC as the Tigers broke 69 school records. Clemson hasn't been the same since he departed.

WVU offense. Now, West Virginia's offense has been infused with energy, but a little differently than at his previous stops.

"It's the same system but we've tweaked it and we're doing some different things now in order to match our personnel," said Rodriguez.

Part of that personnel is the Big East's all-time leading rusher in Avon Cobourne, who has blossomed in the new system.

"We have a more experienced offensive line and running backs, so we've run the ball a lot," said Rodriguez.

"This is the most we've ever run it by far. That's been pleasing because we've struggled throwing the ball. We had good balance both years at Clemson and in '98 at Tulane."

This season, Rodriguez had dispelled the notion that teams can't run the ball out of the spread offense or the shotgun. He did that at Clemson, mostly with Dantzler, who was really a running back playing quarterback. At WVU, he's doing it with a tailback who really is a tailback.

"We really don't have a name for it," said Rodriguez. "People are calling it the Power Spread. It's just a no-huddle spread that has evolved every year of my career through trial and error. It's a little unique, although some are copying it. But we have our own little flavor."

Vanilla, it's not.