MORGANTOWN — As Rich Rodriguez has shaped his coaching staff in Morgantown this winter there have been rumblings — maybe murmurs is a better word, for they certainly don’t rise to the level of displeasure that the complaints about Neal Brown reached — about the group he is compiling.

Given almost carte blanche, which translates into excess of $5 million to construct the staff he wants, Rodriguez has not brought in any really well-known assistant coaches.

Other than Chad Scott, the running back coach who served as bowl game interim in Brown’s absence, and Blaine Stewart, son of Rodriguez’s replacement when he left in 2007, both holdovers, the names are not familiar.

While there is excitement over the young defensive coordinator, Zac Alley, 30, from Oklahoma, on a three-year, $1.5 million-a-year contract, and former WVU defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel, who reunites with Rodriguez, the group is still in the stage of their contracts of proving themselves.

Many come from Jacksonville State along with Rodriguez, which certainly is no different than what Brown did when he came up to the big leagues from Troy and brought a host of familiar faces with him.

Certainly, there were some eyebrows raised when Rodriguez named his own son, Rhett, to coach the quarterbacks, considering his limited experience, and when on Thursday he added Casteel’s son, Jake, as an assistant though he also has limited experience at a lower level, the murmurs began pushing rumblings.

Not that anyone has any idea of what kind of coach most of these hires are, which in a way may be a good thing for it allows Rodriguez to do what he does best … and that is run the show the way he wants it run.

Rich Rod wasn’t looking to make friends his first time around. He was out to make football players and that is what will really have to happen in this second effort at WVU, for there is a built-in opposition to him from the start.

Friends for football coaches come from winning and winning comes from creating the culture you want.

Neal Brown created the culture he wanted quite successfully, but it wasn’t a winning culture and people who show to help you pack and move out aren’t really what you call friends.

Rodriguez is looking for a different kind of coach than those Brown surrounded himself with. He believes in tough love and, on the day he was named to the job, he discussed the idea that he was looking for coaches who would coach his players hard.

Bear Bryant’s day may be over but his value still holds true, and Rodriguez believes in them. It wasn’t just talk he was spouting on the day he took the job and he is still telling anyone who will listen that he is looking for a hard edge on his players and that he expects his coaching staff to hone that edge.

Speaking recently to noted national radio talk show host Jim Rome this week, Rodriguez reiterated what he was looking for and this is as good of a time as any, while the talk is bubbling up over his staff, to put it out there again.

“I’ve mentioned to my staff numerous times. Good players want to be coached. There’s a lot of coaches that nowadays are afraid to coach guys because they are afraid if I get on him, he’s going to quit or get upset or go in the transfer portal.

“If that’s the case, you don’t want that guy anyway. You want those good players who want to be coached. All the best players in the NFL, all the best players in college and high school want somebody who will help them get better. They want someone to coach them.

“I tell our guys we are going to coach you to be the best version of yourself. That’s not always pleasant. You know, everybody makes mistakes including us as coaches. But we are going to have that kind of culture.”

It certainly was what was lacking from the WVU team that he had before. Call it what you will, Rodriguez sticks with a hard edge, but it will be inherent on his staff to inject that into the players.

It is, as Rodriguez says, becoming a lost art, especially at schools that forever are behind the Ohio States, Penn States, Alabamas and Georgias of the world of football. When you are at the very top and are grasping for the NFL on every play you are driven.

But not every Big 12 or Big Ten or SEC team has that and Rodriguez believes it is upon him and his staff to create that in a world where teams are recreated every year as players go out and look for the best deal.

“Everybody thinks everyone plays hard,” Rodriguez said. “I used to think that way myself. At this level … (you think) with national TV everybody is going to play really, really hard. But do they? On every single snap? That’s one thing we will take pride in. Everybody will play extremely hard and I think people in the stands will notice that.

“People in the stands may not know the schemes and what are doing X and O wise, but they can tell if your team is playing hard.”

All of it, of course, adds to the intrigue that now grips the WVU football program as Rodriguez hasn’t been hired to make friends, only to influence people who wear helmets, have numbers on their fronts and backs and carry the future of the sport in Morgantown with them.