Effort and playing hard was never really an issue with West Virginia during Neal Brown’s tenure. It was more about a lack of execution, lack of development, and not putting guys in a position to succeed.
There are, however, levels to playing hard, and after wrapping up the tour of duty in winter workouts this week, the players are starting to understand how different and challenging things are going to be moving forward.
During his press conference on Thursday, head coach Rich Rodriguez admitted that the team still has a little ways to go before resembling the kind of toughness needed but that they’re trending in the right direction.
“Whatever was here a year ago or three months ago isn’t nearly as important as what is going on right now. I re-hired Mike Joseph as the strength coach; I think he’s fantastic. I was able to bring Parker Whiteman with me, who’s been in our system, and I’ve been really pleased with the workouts. We’re doing their testing now, so I don’t know what their strength numbers are, but I think they’re in better shape now than they were a month and a half ago, and they’ve worked really hard.
“There’s been moments where we’ve done what we call skill development where I’m thinking…well, their version of playing hard and my version of playing hard are maybe not quite matched up yet. But I think they’re willing, I think they’re eager and are buying into what we’re asking them to do. They don’t have a choice, but they’ve got a good attitude and are eager to prove themselves and work hard.”
This isn’t anything to panic about. It’s just Rodriguez and his staff setting the foundation of what this program must be built on. If he made these comments in mid-August, it would be very concerning.
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