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Apr. 14—MORGANTOWN — At the end of the Gold-Blue Spring Showcase, Rich Rodriguez stood in line to sing "Take Me Home, Country Roads " with the fans, students, players and staff. He was emotional and told his players that this was personal to him. Listening to the John Denver song this time around meant more than ever.
It's a well-known tradition in Morgantown. After a win, "cue 'Country Roads'" is murmured throughout the fans, no matter the age. However, the current students or younger generation of Mountaineer fans might not know how the tradition started or that the man the man who started the tradition is back.
Twenty-three years ago, the tradition started. Rodriguez, who is from West Virginia and the head coach at the time, decided they'd sing the song together after his football team won. Rodriguez heard the song over 50 times on the winning side after that. Since then, no matter who the coach was, the song was played. The tradition has even spread to other sports within WVU athletics.
"One of the greatest traditions in college sports, " Rodriguez said. "College football, anyways."
Rodriguez hadn't heard the playing of West Virginia's well-known song in 18 years. Not on the West Virginia sideline, at least. In 2007, Rodriguez left the Mountaineers and took a job at Michigan, right on the heels of a loss to Pitt, which kept them out of the national championship.
It was a bad breakup that had lawsuits and was ugly all around, questioning a potential reunion in the future.
Rodriguez was fired from Michigan in 2011. He looked for a bounce-back at Arizona, but he ended up being fired from there, too, in 2018. He worked his way back up to where the stars aligned for a reunion at his alma mater and a second chance to make things right.
For the first time in 6, 342 days, Rodriguez embraced the tradition he started again, donning his gold and blue.
The song, released by Denver in 1971, has expanded nationally, worldwide and is used in a Rocket Mortgage commercial that aired during this year's Super Bowl.
"It's like the song's grown in popularity, " Rodriguez said. "Rocket Mortgage, the Super Bowl. I wonder if the Denver family is getting royalties off that. How about the Mountaineers ? Do we get any royalties off that ? We should ask Rocket Mortgage to sponsor. There are a lot of ideas Wren Baker has for the Rocket Mortgage money."
The tradition is one of the many songs in college football associated with a university. There's "Rocky Top " at Tennesee, "Zombie Nation " at Penn State and "Enter Sandman " at Virginia Tech. For a town of over 30, 000, the university's song is "Take Me Home, County Roads, " and it was all started by Rodriguez, who finally gets to enjoy it again as the head coach of West Virginia.
"It was kind of neat, " Rodriguez said. "Nothing better than a winning locker room and a winning field playing Country Roads."
Continue reading...
It's a well-known tradition in Morgantown. After a win, "cue 'Country Roads'" is murmured throughout the fans, no matter the age. However, the current students or younger generation of Mountaineer fans might not know how the tradition started or that the man the man who started the tradition is back.
Twenty-three years ago, the tradition started. Rodriguez, who is from West Virginia and the head coach at the time, decided they'd sing the song together after his football team won. Rodriguez heard the song over 50 times on the winning side after that. Since then, no matter who the coach was, the song was played. The tradition has even spread to other sports within WVU athletics.
"One of the greatest traditions in college sports, " Rodriguez said. "College football, anyways."
Rodriguez hadn't heard the playing of West Virginia's well-known song in 18 years. Not on the West Virginia sideline, at least. In 2007, Rodriguez left the Mountaineers and took a job at Michigan, right on the heels of a loss to Pitt, which kept them out of the national championship.
It was a bad breakup that had lawsuits and was ugly all around, questioning a potential reunion in the future.
Rodriguez was fired from Michigan in 2011. He looked for a bounce-back at Arizona, but he ended up being fired from there, too, in 2018. He worked his way back up to where the stars aligned for a reunion at his alma mater and a second chance to make things right.
For the first time in 6, 342 days, Rodriguez embraced the tradition he started again, donning his gold and blue.
The song, released by Denver in 1971, has expanded nationally, worldwide and is used in a Rocket Mortgage commercial that aired during this year's Super Bowl.
"It's like the song's grown in popularity, " Rodriguez said. "Rocket Mortgage, the Super Bowl. I wonder if the Denver family is getting royalties off that. How about the Mountaineers ? Do we get any royalties off that ? We should ask Rocket Mortgage to sponsor. There are a lot of ideas Wren Baker has for the Rocket Mortgage money."
The tradition is one of the many songs in college football associated with a university. There's "Rocky Top " at Tennesee, "Zombie Nation " at Penn State and "Enter Sandman " at Virginia Tech. For a town of over 30, 000, the university's song is "Take Me Home, County Roads, " and it was all started by Rodriguez, who finally gets to enjoy it again as the head coach of West Virginia.
"It was kind of neat, " Rodriguez said. "Nothing better than a winning locker room and a winning field playing Country Roads."
Continue reading...
