Rich Rodriguez is back at West Virginia after a rocky career so far in college football. He has his pros and cons, but has his best records in his first stint with the Mountaineers. His return to the program is already seeing some drastic changes, and this will be the first time he debuts in the Big 10 conference. However, his second run with the Mountaineers comes with a mindset that might not sit in line with Deion Sanders’ standards.

Rodriguez is expected to recreate his success from his first stint at WVU. His 7-year-long stretch with the program made him a coach with the 2nd most wins for the Mountaineers. And, in those 7 years, Rodriguez led the school to 4 Big East Conference titles, with 3 of them being back-to-back wins. Naturally, fans already have an idea of what it is like to have Rodriguez at the helm. However, the circumstances in which he coached during those years are different from what they are now.

With NIL in play, CFB head coaching has taken a turn. Rodriguez said in the Big 12 Media Day presser, “I love, and I’ve always loved coaching… You get frustrated because you could, you know, you could do everything right in recruiting. And the guy just gets bought. You know what I mean? That’s just the way it is. It’s transactional. It’s like facilities. It’s important to have facilities and all that kind of stuff. But now, that’s still important. Money has become the driving factor for a lot of them. So that could be frustrating if you don’t have the same resources.“ West Virginia currently ranks at No. 57 in the recruiting class. And he surprisingly has nine 5-star commits so far.

Rodriguez has already made some strong and unorthodox moves. He has banned TikTok and has brought in an overwhelming 50 players from the transfer portal. This means that the HC is on the other side of the battle, having an NIL-friendly approach. He will earn $18 million by the time his new contract with WVU expires. As coaches still deliberate about how to navigate the NIL world, Rodriguez seems to have accepted this new reality of college football. “The NIL and paying them is one part,” Rodriguez said in an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay Podcast. “It’s like the NFL on steroids. But the biggest part is the open free agency. There’s no rookie salary cap, and there are no three-year contracts. That makes it really, really difficult. But that is what it is.” 

Deion Sanders, however, is of the other opinion on this debate. Sanders has advocated for NIL rules in the past, despite being one of the most prominent college football programs. Back from his hiatus to recuperate from his ill-health, the phenom is back to argue his case against NIL dominance.

Deion Sanders’ opinion sharply contrasts with that of Rich Rodriguez

Among the most important causes Coach Prime discussed for Colorado, there was the issue of NIL on the table. Sanders is calling out the officials, and his number 1 concern was a salary cap for players. “A top of the line player makes this, and if you’re not that type of guy, you know you’re not going to make that. That’s what the NFL does. The problem is, you’ve got a guy that’s not that darn good, but he could go to another school and get half a million dollars. You can’t compete with that. It don’t make sense,” Sanders said in the Big 12 Media Days presser.

“All you have to do is look at the playoffs and see what those teams spent, and you’ll understand darn well why they were in the playoffs. It’s kind of hard to compete with someone who’s giving $25, $30 million to a darn freshman class,” the Buffaloes coach added.

Sanders is also struggling in the 2026 recruiting class, having only made it inside the Top 100. The average NIL Value of Colorado is only 120,000, very much in contrast with the lavish life he enjoys off the field. Big-name programs, like Ohio State, can open their banks for the best players, like Jeremiah Smith.

Rich Rodriguez supports the change NIL will bring to West Virginia football. However, his fellow HC is still disappointed at the idea of the HC and opening up to. Deion Sanders, on the other hand, is miffed about having to churn out such high amounts for young players. Which side of the debate would you pick?