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MORGANTOWN -- Think Rich Rodriguez football and what do you think of?
Offense. Innovative. Pat White. Steve Slaton. Noel Devine. Owen Schmitt. Rasheed Marshall. Chris Henry.
But here’s a pretty well-guarded secret about Rich Rodriguez football in his first go-round at West Virginia.
They played defense, too.
Some of the best defenders at WVU played for Rodriguez. Pac-Man Jones. Grant Wiley. Brian King. James “Dirty ” Davis. David Upchurch. Jahmile Addae.
You don’t put together three consecutive 11-win seasons simply by outscoring the opposition.
Even in the game that brought an end to Rodriguez’s first go-round with the Mountaineers, that devastating, history-changing loss to Pitt in the Backyard Brawl as 28.5-point favorites that cost them a shot at the national title, what isn’t mentioned is that Pitt scored just 13 points.
He knows he has to get back to those kinds of defenses, defenses led by a veteran staff that stayed together that included Jeff Casteel, Bill Kirelawich, Tony Gibson and Bruce Tall.
They believed in playing with an attitude and instilled it over a period of time. They weren’t very good on defense when he first got there but by his third year, they were right there with Miami and Virginia Tech in the Big East and when those two teams defected, they were the best in the conference.
From 2004 to 2007, they gave up fewer than 20 points a game each season, and in 2006, allowed only 93 rushing yards per game.
Getting the staff he wants and keeping them together is going to be crucial to building a solid defense at West Virginia, which was the unspoken secret to the defenses of the early 2000s.
“Rich was really good at putting the right chemistry together, and once he had that chemistry, he didn’t touch it, didn’t change it,” Kirelawich said Wednesday when asked to talk about those defenses. “That was his secret. He had a great feel for chemistry, with the players and with the coaches.”
You’d think, from hearing Rodriguez in his press conferences, that he leans mostly upon his offense, which truly is his baby.
But Kirelawich said that back with his best teams, Rodriguez was vital in the defensive mix, too.
“He had a hand in everything,” Kirelawich said. “Obviously he leaned a little more toward offense, it was his deal.”
But the turning point for the defense was when Rodriguez turned it over to Jeff Casteel to put in the odd stack that they came to play so well.
“I think Jeff Casteel just did a great job,” Kirelawich said. “I think he is one of the most underrated we’ve ever had coaching. If you get into the nuts and bolts of the defense we had then you will find his fingerprints on everything.”
Casteel never was one to take credit for what he had done, preferring to operate behind the scene.
“Jeff would walk away from the spotlight rather than be in it,” Kirelawich noted.
Rodriguez believed in Casteel and had him on his defensive staff to get things established last year before Casteel retired this season.
It seems that Rodriguez is trying to recreate that with his young defensive coordinator, Zac Alley, who has his own unique defense and is re-installing it with this year’s new group, a set of players recruited to the fit the needs of this defense.
It’s an attacking defense and last year didn’t have the type of players who could do that with a secondary that wasn’t physical enough to handle life in the Big 12.
The season is now approaching rapidly and the job is a large one. There are no high expectations outside the WV locker room, so there isn’t any pressure to reach full potential at the start.
But, that second Rodriguez team the first time around improved to 9-4 and held eight opponents to 20 or fewer points, so there may be a surprise in store for the opposition as the season moves ahead.
The first year was difficult all over, especially in pass defense where there was neither effective coverage as the Mountaineers ranked 127th out of 134 teams in yards allowed with 266 nor in pass-defense efficiency, ranking 122nd.
And the bad taste still lingers from a 49-0 loss to Texas Tech in which they allowed 384 passing yards and five passing touchdowns.