Heckler thrown out of Rich Rodriguez introductory press conference at West Virginia

A heckler tried to steal the show during Rich Rodriguez’s introductory press conference on Friday, as he made his triumphant return to West Virginia.

As the spectator began to shout at Rodriguez as he took the podium, fans in attendance booed and clamored for the unruly guest to be tossed. Police quickly got involved and escorted the heckler out, to a chorus of cheers from the massive group of Mountaineers faithful. Check out the video below of the incident, shared to X by Inside The Dome.

There was a heckler at the Rich Rodriguez press conference for WVU. He did not get a warm response pic.twitter.com/rmom5m9KrD

— Inside The Dome (@inside_the_dome) December 13, 2024

After the spectator was removed, Rodriguez had the perfect response to make light of the situation: “Okay, any other Pitt fans can leave the building,” he proclaimed, as the crowd went wild.

It was certainly an electric start to the highly-anticipated press conference. It’s not the first time West Virginia fans have heard Rodriguez speak, as he joined them via satellite during a live rendition of The Pat McAfee Show, but the energy in the building is on another level regardless.

To add some more juice for a couple of West Virginia’s rivals, Rodriguez also called out both Pitt and Marshall during his aforementioned appearance on McAfee’s show, firing a couple jabs before his introduction got underway.

Earlier in his interview, Rodriguez pointed out two characteristics he doesn’t want in players. He’s not looking for “soft” or “lazy” – but he later remembered one more four-letter word he forgot: “I probably misspoke a little bit earlier when I said the two worst four-letter words were soft and lazy,” Rodriguez said. “I left out Pitt.”

Then, McAfee’s co-host Boston Connor asked if the game between West Virginia and Marshall could return given the Thundering Herd’s recent hire of Tony Gibson, who worked for Rodriguez at WVU, Michigan and Arizona.

Although Rodriguez acknowledged his relationship with Gibson, he also summed up his thoughts on Marshall perfectly. It’s safe to say, he’s not worrying about the Thundering Herd.

“Gibby is a great friend of mine,” Rodriguez said. “Was a great staff member, and we’re still very dear friends. [If] you think I have spent one second thinking about Marshall, you’re wrong.”

Alas, Rich Rodriguez is hitting all the right beats during his big day in Morgantown on Friday. Time will tell if it translates to wins on the football field, but the confidence in palpable for the Mountaineers at the moment.

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this article.