Back at His Roots, Rodriguez Battles NIL Wild West: “Loyalty Has a Price Tag Now”
Back at the school where he once walked the sidelines as a young assistant, Rich Rodriguez has returned to WVU with a clear mission: build a tough, disciplined, winning football program. But what he didn’t anticipate was just how much the game had changed—off the field. In today’s college football landscape, Rodriguez finds himself not just coaching a team, but battling a new frontier: the chaotic world of NIL and the transfer portal.
“It’s the Wild West out here,” Rodriguez said, arms folded, eyes scanning the Gamecocks’ spring practice. “We used to recruit on relationships and potential. Now? It’s price tags. Loyalty’s got a number next to it.”
The advent of Name, Image, and Likeness deals, combined with unrestricted player movement through the NCAA transfer portal, has transformed college football into a transactional marketplace. Coaches are no longer just strategists—they’re roster managers in a volatile, money-driven environment. And for a coach like Rodriguez, who built his legacy on development, toughness, and culture, the change has been jarring.
“You used to be able to redshirt a kid, develop him for three years, and see him become a leader as a senior,” Rodriguez said. “Now, you invest that time, and the moment he shows promise, someone from a bigger school waves cash in front of him and he’s gone. That’s not football. That’s free agency without contracts.”
At WVU, Rodriguez is facing the reality of being a stepping-stone program. Competing in Conference USA, the Gamecocks have fewer resources than Power Five programs and far less NIL funding to retain talent. He’s already lost multiple starters to more prominent programs, not for better coaching or academic opportunities—but for money.
“It’s hard to preach commitment when you can’t match the offers being thrown around,” he said. “There are kids getting offered five or six times more than what we can put together here. And it’s not always based on merit. Sometimes it’s just hype.”
Rodriguez isn’t bitter—he’s realistic. He supports athletes having opportunities to benefit from their work, but he believes the system lacks guardrails. “I’m not against NIL,” he clarified. “But this isn’t NIL. It’s pay-to-play disguised as branding. And it’s going to collapse programs like ours if we don’t rein it in.”
Still, he’s not backing down. Rodriguez remains fiercely committed to his players and his program. He talks culture, work ethic, and brotherhood every day in the locker room. “We’re not going to sell our soul to chase stars,” he said. “We’ll build men. And the ones who stay? They’ll be part of something real.”
As the sport hurtles further into its professionalized future, Rodriguez stands as a voice of old-school conviction. In a game where loyalty now has a price tag, he’s betting that character, grit, and unity still matter—and that somewhere, somehow, they’ll win out.
