WVU’s Rodriguez ignores free speech concerns after banning ‘TikTok dancing’

• West Virginia’s football coach recently banned his players from dancing on the social media app TikTok. A group focused on protecting free speech called this a violation of the First Amendment.
• The university has not responded to a letter from Fire.org requesting that the coach acknowledge that his ban is unlawful.
• No players have publicly complained about not being able to post dancing videos on TikTok.

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Fire.org is a group focused on protecting free speech anywhere it might be challenged. They are not happy with West Virginia football coach Rich Rodriguez for banning his players from dancing on the social media app TikTok.

Who is upset about the TikTok dancing ban?

On Thursday, April 3, Fire.org sent a second letter to the University and posted it online. They demand a response from school administrators and call on Coach Rodriguez to acknowledge that his ban on players dancing on TikTok violates their First Amendment rights to free speech. The controversy started March 10 when Rodriguez answered a reporter’s question about the team’s social media policies.

“They’re going to be on it, so I’m not banning them from it,” Rodriguez said. “I’m just banning them from dancing on it. It’s like, look, we try to have a hard edge or whatever, and you’re in there in your tights dancing on TikTok, ain’t quite the image of our program that I want.”

What is Coach Rodriguez’s motivation for the ban?

If that sounds old school, Rodriguez has been coaching college football for 18 seasons and has 136 career wins. He’s beginning his second stint as coach at West Virginia and says he’s allowed to create rules for his program to get his players to focus on football.

“Twenty years from now, if they want to be sitting in their pajamas in the basement eating Cheetos and watching TikTok or whatever the hell, they can go at it, smoking cannabis, whatever,” Rodriguez said. “Knock yourself out. I hope our focus can be on winning football games. How about let’s win the football game and not worry about winning the TikTok?”

Has there been a public response from the University or players?

The University has yet to publicly respond to Fire.org’s complaints or letters. Straight Arrow News reached out to both parties with an interview request but has not heard back. Thursday morning, April 3, on college football analyst Greg McIlroy’s podcast, Rodriguez continued to make light of his ban.

“A lot of folks made a big deal about our guys, me, my so-called banning them from dancing on TikTok. They couldn’t dance. It was embarrassing, that was first off,” Rodriguez said. “But I’m like, if they can make money being good at something, I want them to make money being good at football. So how about let’s get good at football because I don’t know if they’re going to make money dancing on TikTok, not from what I’ve seen.”

Fire.org may be taking a page from the 1984 Kevin Bacon movie “Footloose.” Still, to date, Mountaineers players have not publicly complained about not being able to dance on social media. Coach Rodriguez has also not publicly punished any players for cutting loose on video.

This whole controversy could also take another twist this weekend if the national TikTok ban, which became law last year, goes into effect before a U.S.-based buyer can close a deal for the social media site.