TUCSON, Ariz. -- In 1990, the 26-year-old, defensive-minded new head coach at Glenville State turned his thoughts to offense by asking himself some fairly simple questions.
“What do I not want to see?" wondered Rich Rodriguez. "What gives me anxiety, headaches on defense?”
That is how Rodriguez, a former safety at West Virginia, began the process of creating an up-tempo, no-huddle offense with read option and spread concepts that then circulated throughout college football like a virus for defenses.
A quarter-century later, Rodriguez, now the coach at Arizona, looked at his defense and felt it needed a change.