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Neal Brown out as WVU football coach

FILE - West Virginia head coach Neal Brown watches during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Pittsburgh, Sept. 14, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed, File)

Neal Brown’s time as West Virginia University’s football coach is officially over.

The university announced Sunday afternoon that it had parted ways with Brown after six seasons, a decision that came on the heels of a blowout loss to Texas Tech to end the regular season. The loss dropped WVU to 6-6 on the year, the fifth time in Brown’s six seasons he finished with no better than six wins in the regular campaign.

“Coach Brown is a great person, and he has served as a tremendous ambassador for West Virginia University,” said WVU Athletic Director Wren Baker. “He led our storied program with class and integrity and always put in the hard work necessary to allow for success. We are grateful to Neal, his wife, Brooke, and their children for their contributions to our university, community and state, and we wish them the very best in their next endeavor.”

Brown came to WVU after four wildly successful seasons as head coach at Troy. He finished with at least 10 wins in each of his last three seasons with the Trojans, with a trio of bowl victories. That included wins at No. 25 LSU in 2017 and at Nebraska in 2018.

He came to WVU hoping to match that success in the Big 12, but it never happened. The Mountaineers hovered around average for the majority of his tenure. He beat only three nationally ranked teams in 72 games with WVU, and none of those three finished the season in the Top 25.

The Top 25 proved elusive for the Mountaineers at the same time. WVU finished there just once under Brown, ranked No. 25 in the coaches poll after a 9-4 finish and a Duke’s Mayo Bowl win in 2023.

That finish gave WVU and its fans optimism for the 2024 campaign. A sizable chunk of his players were returning, including quarterback Garrett Greene and defensive lineman Sean Martin. Players and coaches talked about contending for the Big 12 title, especially after Oklahoma and Texas, the titans of the conference’s previous iteration, had left for the SEC.

The fanbase was hungry for the team to reach a new plateau, putting more than 62,000 into Milan Puskar Stadium for WVU’s season opener versus Penn State. The Nittany Lions pummeled West Virginia in that game 34-12. West Virginia went 0-2 in rivalry games, blowing a 10-point lead in the game’s last 4:55 in a 38-24 loss. Another low came in back-to-back nationally televised night games against ranked conference foes. WVU lost to Iowa State 28-16 and Kansas State 45-18 in those contests.

Defensive struggles became a theme for WVU this season, as the Mountaineers ranked near the bottom of the Football Bowl Subdivision in several key defensive categories. WVU gave up at least 45 points three times this season, all from Oct. 19 on. In an attempt to reverse those fortunes, Brown fired defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley on Oct. 29, promoting linebackers coach Jeff Koonz to the role.

It didn’t help. West Virginia’s defense hit bottom in a 52-15 loss at Texas Tech where the Mountaineers trailed 35-3 at halftime and 42-3 after the first drive of the second half. WVU had allowed 49 points in a home loss to Baylor two games before.

Brown finished 37-35 overall at West Virginia, including 25-28 in the Big 12. He reached four bowl games in the six seasons, winning the Liberty and Duke’s Mayo bowls.

Now the university will turn to hiring its next head coach.

“We will keep our focus on the incredible young men in our program and preparing for our bowl game,” Baker said. “Our national search for WVU’s 36th head football coach is already underway. I am confident that with the strong alignment among the university leadership, our passionate supporters, our proud history and our willingness to invest, we will have an outstanding pool of candidates.”

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