Upon returning as West Virginia's head football coach, Rich Rodriguez aimed to instill a "hard edge" culture defined by maximum physical toughness, but seven games into the struggling 2025 season, the 2-5 Mountaineers (0-4 Big 12) have yet to fully embrace it. Rodriguez admitted his expectation "was probably higher or thought it would happen faster," noting the desired culture isn't ingrained when players loaf or lack intensity. The recent 45-13 drubbing at UCF exemplified these shortcomings, with WVU managing a season-low 210 yards while yielding a season-high 578 yards and 31 unanswered second-half points. Rodriguez called the effort and competitiveness in that game "the most disappointing thing" and stated, "We've failed as coaches to get that." Statistically, WVU ranks near the bottom of the Big 12 in numerous categories during conference play, losing games by an average of nearly 28 points. Despite acknowledging "we still have a ways to go" on culture, Rodriguez remains "convinced we're going to win big," attributing the slow progress partly to bad luck and missed evaluations, while asserting he knows the answers, even if fixes are taking longer than desired.