Rodriguez Accuses Stephen F. Austin of Spying

Jacksonville State head football coach Rich Rodriguez throws allegations at game 1 opponent

Former West Virginia University football head coach Rich Rodriguez held his first game week press conference as the head mad with the Jacksonville State Gamecocks Tuesday afternoon in preparation for the season opener versus Stephen F. Austin.  

In the middle of fielding questions, Rodriguez claimed the Stephen F. Austin coaching staff was spying on the Gamecocks football program. 

“Whether it's true or not, pretty good source said it's true that they had a couple staff members at our spring game, which is kind of like — that’s not really supposed to happen,” Rodriguez said in a press conference leading up to the game. “We’re making plans accordingly, so if they’re over there thinking they have our plays or what have you, our signals or something like that, we’ve changed things since the spring."

Sep 22, 2017; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Rich Rodriguez talks to his players during the second half against the Utah Utes at Arizona Stadium / Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Rodriguez followed the assertion with another allegation that someone was trying to film one of their practices earlier in the week. 

We caught somebody trying to film something the other day. First, my daughter caught him, Raquel saw him. Then we caught him again, saw him peering through there with his camera. Then, I sent the biggest guy in the program, one of our assistant strength coaches. He’s about like 6’7, 350, probably benches like a thousand pounds or something. Sent him up the bleachers to run him out, and that guy disappeared pretty quick.”

Rodriguez took over a program that went 5-6 overall last season and hired Rodriguez in late November 2021. However, under former head coach John Grass, the program had won 10 or more games in six of the last six previous seasons.

Of note, the Gamecocks program will be making the jump from FCS to FBS and will join Conference USA in 2023. 

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