Rich Rodriguez has press conference interrupted by heckler
Sep 9, 2017; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Rich Rodriguez high fives fans before the game against the Houston Cougars at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
Rich Rodriguez’s introductory press conference at West Virginia was nearly derailed by a heckler.
West Virginia re-introduced Rodriguez on Friday as their new head football coach in a public press conference. Unfortunately for Rodriguez, a public critic found their way into the event and started heckling him as it was going on.
The rest of the attendees were largely supportive of Rodriguez and booed the individual. Some even threw things at them as police intervened.
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
Rodriguez took the interruption in stride by jokingly telling any other Pitt fans present to leave.
This guy literally held up the presser to oppose rich. Escorted out by cops. lol rich rods response: Any other pitt fans can go ahead and leave pic.twitter.com/9sSnFujLh4
— EertoEarpodcast (@eertoearpodcast) December 13, 2024
The heckler did not appear to be a Pitt fan, though it was not clear what they were actually heckling over. Regardless, their interruption was a brief one, and police quickly removed them from the venue.
Rodriguez previously coached West Virginia with great success from 2001 through 2007. He agreed to a surprise return to the school earlier this week in a move that appears to be broadly popular with fans. There are some dissenters, clearly, but at least at Friday’s event, they were in the minority.
