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WVU head football coach Neal Brown keynotes Boy Scouts Leadership Dinner

By Tyler Bennett 3 min read

VIENNA -- West Virginia University head football coach Neal Brown was the virtual keynote speaker for the 52nd annual Kootaga District Boy Scouts of America Mid-Ohio Valley Leadership Dinner at Grand Pointe Conference and Reception Center in Vienna on Tuesday evening.

The dinner is a fundraising event to help support the Scouts program in the Mid-Ohio Valley, from Wood, Wirt, Jackson, Ritchie, Calhoun and Roane counties to some parts in Ohio, according to Kootage District Leadership District Director Michael Cidor.

"This helps us to support Scouting and provide outdoor programs, provide staff like me to go out and help support the local units with training, recruiting and those kinds of things," Cidor said. "It also helps us get out of the schools to do recruiting events to help bring folks into Scouting, provide training materials and things to help the local leaders deliver the Scouting program."

Cidor did say that they received below 50 percent of the funding goal, but will still be taking donations throughout the year.

Appearing through a virtual connection because of the university's pandemic restrictions preventing in-person appearances, Brown -- who is entering his third year as head coach of the Mountaineers -- said that while he's not a great outdoorsman, he did say that he and Scouts share the same interests that are much bigger than that, being the development of young people.

"I'll self admit that I'm not very good with my hands and I'm not a great outdoorsman, it's not for lack of effort. On the other hand, I think we share interests that are much brighter than that and it's the development of young people," Brown said. "I love the game of football, athletics has given me everything that I've been able to enjoy in life. But my real passion is the development of young people. I have so much respect for the Scouts program, what it means and how it's gone about developing young people."

In addition to explaining the core values he sets for the team to follow to be the best possible Mountaineer on and off the field, Brown also took questions from the crowd ranging from strengths of the upcoming team, thoughts on how fierce the competition is in the Big 12 conference and the pros and cons of the transfer portal.

Brown is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts and played football at UMass. He is a native of Kentucky where he was an all-state wide receiver at Boyle County High School and the No. 2 receiver in state history.

Brown was the head coach for four years at Troy University before WVU. The Mountaineers ended the 2020 season 5-4.

Filling in for Buckskin Council Leadership Council President Brian Doughty and District Chairman James Bennon, Assistant Scout Executive Larry Wunderly said that if it wasn't for the support from the people in attendance at Tuesday's dinner, the event would not be possible.

"Over the past 18 months, Scouting has been challenged in many ways. But with supporters in the Kootaga District like you, we continue to excel at delivering quality programs at a high level to those who need it most, the youth and the youth that are in Scouts," Wunderly said. "Quite frankly, without your support, this wouldn't be possible. I applaud each of you and ask that you and your friends in the Kootaga District remain vigilant and continue to support scouting in the Kootaga District and in the Buckskin Council."

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