New Buffs OL Coach Rodrigue Brings Plenty Of Experience To Boulder
March 26, 2020 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — When Mitch Rodrigue received a call from Karl Dorrell asking about his interest in becoming the offensive line coach at Colorado, Rodrigue had plenty of reasons to listen.
Power 5 school. Excellent facilities. Solid recruiting base. History and tradition.
But the biggest attraction, Rodrigue said, was the man who made the call.
"The most obvious reason I'm here is because of Coach Dorrell," Rodrigue said recently. "He and I hit it off. We have a lot of similarities in our philosophy, especially when it comes to young men and how to treat them and how to lead them. That was the big draw, the opportunity to work with Coach Dorrell."
Rodrigue has spent virtually his entire coaching career in the south. His stops over nearly 30 years in the business have included the University of Louisiana (Lafayette), Southern Miss (where he tutored future Denver Bronco Chris Clark), South Alabama and Nicholls State.
But coming west was an easy choice after talking with Dorrell. CU's new head coach has stressed the importance of having coaches who are mentors and teachers, and Rodrigue fit the bill.
"What Coach Rod brings to us is a great amount of experience and the ability to be a great mentor to our players," Dorrell said. "What you will find out about our coaches is that we will get fully involved with our players, both on and off the field. He really is an outstanding man, he has an infectious personality and our players will gravitate to him."
It's a philosophy Rodrigue embraces, as he believes coaching involves far more than just what happens on the field. Helping develop young men, he said, is an integral part of the job.
"That's why I'm in coaching," he said. "If you just got into coaching just to enjoy Xs and Os and you don't enjoy people, you're in it for the wrong reasons. I believe I have a calling to be around young men, mentor them, help them become good citizens and expose them to things that will help build a foundation for life."
Rodrigue has had time to study film of the group he will be coaching, and he said he's impressed with what he's seen. The Buffs have four players who saw starting duty last year in senior Kary Kutsch, juniors Colby Pursell and William Sherman, and sophomore Casey Roddick; as well as a talented group of youngsters that includes Frank Fillip, Kanan Ray and Austin Johnson.
"I feel really good about my guys," Rodrigue said. "We're just one piece of the puzzle, but I do like what I've seen. We have some guys that want to win, and that's where it starts."
Rodrigue said successful offensive linemen always share at least three main traits.
"Intelligence, athleticism and a strong desire to be successful in anything they do," he said. "If they have those traits we can work with each other and we'll be successful."
Rodrigue spent the last two seasons working at Spanish Fort High School in Alabama after the Louisiana staff wasn't retained following the 2017 season. But he also used the time away from the college game to develop a blocking system that is now used by programs around the nation to help teach the correct technique for cut blocking.
The idea for the system came to him over the years.
"It's always hard to teach the art of cutting for an offensive lineman because your head coach doesn't allow you to do it in practice," Rodrigue said. "So you have to use a lot of different types of equipment, like dummies. That takes a lot of manpower because you have to have people holding them."
But Rodrigue invented a frame, support bar and blocking dummy system that doesn't require extra manpower. The first version was a crude model built out of PVC pipe, but he continued to refine and revise the system, to the point that coaches from other schools told him he needed to patent the invention.
Thus, after having some time on his hands the last year and a half, he and a business partner developed the "ROD Blocking System."
"I never thought I'd be in a business like that, but when you get some time on your hands, you like to put it to use," he said with a laugh.
But now, Rodrigue's full attention is focused on bringing Colorado football back to an elite level.
"There's a lot of potential in this building," he said. "There's good football players here, there's athletic players, there's great facilities, guys that are eager to learn and be successful. The future is bright for the Buffaloes. I'm sure of that."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
