A COLLEGE football coach has banned his players from dancing on TikTok ahead of the new season.
West Virginia HC Rich Rodriguez wants his team to have a “hard edge” as he takes the reigns in Morgantown.
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Rodriguez has returned to the Mountaineers for a second stint at the job.
He took over from Neal Brown last fall and was previously in charge between 2001 and 2007.
The 61-year-old is keen to impose his philosophy on the group.
And he’s started by banning Big 12 players from dancing on the popular social media app.
“They’re going to be on [TikTok],” Rodriguez admitted.
“So, I’m not banning them from it. I’m just banning them from dancing on it.
“We try to have a hard edge, whatever, and you’re in your tights dancing on TikTok.
“It ain’t quite the image of our program that I want.”
The Mountaineers went 6-7 last season in a disappointing year.
And Rodriguez believes instilling a strong team ethic among his team will help them win games next campaign.
“I told the team today,” he continued.
“I said everything today is about trying to make everybody individual.
“It’s all about the individual, it’s all about the individual.
“And I said football is one of the last things that’s got to be more about the team than the individual.”
Rodriguez was a player for West Virginia in the 1980s.
College football’s 2024 shake-up
Oklahoma and Texas switching from the Big 12 to the SEC is one of the biggest changes to college football in recent times.
And that has set off a chain reaction which has left the Pac-12 conference decimated.
The Pac-12 has lost 10 of its 12 members and is down to just Oregon State and Washington State.
Four of those teams are headed for the Big 12 – Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah.
Another four are going to the Big 10 – Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington.
And the other two teams, California and Stanford, will join the ACC conference.
No teams have left the SEC, Big Ten or ACC.
He spent three seasons with the program, recording 54 career tackles as a defensive back.
The 61-year-old became a student assistant with the Mountaineers in 1985 and sixteen years later returned as their head coach.
He went 60–26 during his time with the program.
Rodriguez helps the Mountaineers win the Sugar Bowl in 2005.
He has penned a five-year deal in his latest stint, with a $3.5 million salary.
