As Rich Rodriguez transitions into becoming the head coach of West Virginia, his tendencies and how he attacks each game schematically won’t change just because he has a new job.

Rodriguez is known for his hurry-up style offense. His strong run game includes the quarterback as a big part, which Rodriguez does not envision changing.

“Certain things have changed a little bit. I always thought the tempo and playing fast, who wants to watch a lot of fat guys hold hands in a huddle, so when we huddle up, it’s like a trick play for us,” Rodriguez said.

At Jax State this past season, the Gamecocks’ offense ranked 58th in the country in plays per game and third nationally in rushing attempts per game, showing Rodriguez’s desire to run the ball and go fast at the same time.

Jax State quarterback Tyler Huff was 12th in the nation this season in rushing yards and was second among all quarterbacks in rushing 1,343 yards on the ground. Jax State also ran the ball on 67 percent of their possessions, which was fourth in the country, only behind the three service academies.

Defensively, there is a style Rodriguez wants to play with, but he’s unsure of the specifics of the specific schematics of it all.

“It depends on the coordinator I hire. I have a couple that I’ve talked to, I have a couple in mind, and they’re both different, they’re not the same. Everybody runs a little bit of everything now defensively, whether it’s an odd-stack or an even front, and everybody kind of has certain personnel packages they use on defense. I’m going to pick the d-coordinator, I’ll have a really good one because I have enough resources to hire a really, really, good one, and then from there, I’ll build out the defensive staff,” Rodriguez said of who will be leading his defense.

Rodriguez added he wants to pressure opposing teams and be the aggressor on defense rather than let the offense dictate the style of play.

“There’s not one particular scheme that I want other than I want us to be really, really, aggressive, and I want to force the issue so to speak on the other team,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez and the Gamecocks had a 76.4 overall grade on defense per Pro Football Focus this season but graded out to 61.2 in the pass rush grade category.

If West Virginia had any hard feelings toward Rich Rodriguez for leaving 17 years ago, they weren’t apparent at the press conference introducing his return to Morgantown on Friday.

Well, one fan apparently wasn’t enthused about Rodriguez coming back to coach the Mountaineers. But the heckler was quickly shouted down by the fans in attendance and eventually escorted out of the WVU Coliseum.

Rodriguez had a quick quip for the heckler, winning over the crowd that was already enthusiastic about his return.

“OK, any other Pitt fans can leave the building,” said Rodriguez, who previously coached West Virginia from 2001-07 before leaving for Michigan.

The response from fans — and insulting chants toward rival Pitt — made Rodriguez emotional as he began his remarks.

“This is really surreal,” he said. “I never should have left.”

Rodriguez signed a five-year contract with WVU and will be paid an average annual salary of $3.75 million, according to ESPN. The value of the deal could increase with incentives tied to win totals and other benchmarks.

During his first stint in Morgantown, Rodriguez went 60–26 with five bowl appearances including a Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia after the 2005 season. WVU went 32–5 in Rodriguez’s last three seasons and oversaw a revolutionary spread-option offense. Most memorably, the Mountaineers were in position for the BCS championship game in 2007 but lost 13–9 to Pitt.

Rodriguez left before WVU played in the Fiesta Bowl, where they defeated Oklahoma under interim coach Bill Stewart. Stewart was eventually named the permanent head coach.

That final loss to Pitt apparently stuck with Rodriguez, who made a point of taking a few jabs at the Panthers during his press conference and an interview with WVU alum Pat McAfee.

“I probably misspoke a little bit earlier when I said the two worst four-letter words were ‘soft’ and ‘lazy,’” Rodriguez said when describing the kinds of players he did not want at West Virginia. “I left out Pitt.”

West Virginia and Pitt play next season on Sept. 13.

A West Virginia-based trucking company, which hauls coal, logs and wood chips, recently filed for bankruptcy.

Cedar Trucking Co. of Glasgow, West Virginia, filed its Chapter 11 petition Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.

In the seven-page bare-bones petition, Cedar Trucking, which seeks to reorganize, lists its assets as between $500,000 and $1 million, and liabilities as between $1 million and $10 million. The trucking company states that it has up to 49 creditors and maintains that funds will be available for distribution to unsecured creditors once it pays administrative fees.

Robert Keenan, who is listed as the president of Cedar Trucking, is representing himself pro se in the bankruptcy case. FreightWaves has reached out to Keenan for comment.