Neal Brown joined The D.A. Show this morning on CBS Sports Radio and discussed the upcoming season.
MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — West Virginia head coach Neal Brown appeared on The D.A. Show this morning on CBS Sports Radio and was asked a wide variety of questions about the Mountaineers’ upcoming season. Here’s what Brown had to say today:
How can Neal Brown replicate the success he had at Troy at West Virginia?
“We’ve got to start winning close games here. We need more consistency at the quarterback position. If you look at our tenure here, we’ve had up and down play at quarterback and we’ve lost some close games. Our record isn’t what we’ve wanted it to be, but we’ve been very competitive. We have to finish these close games. The margin for error in this league is very, very small, and in league games, everybody has an opportunity to win every game. The good news is that you can win them all and the bad news is that you can lose them all. What it comes down to is the 4th quarter and in close games, you have to win the turnover margin, score touchdowns in the red zone and hold your opponents from scoring.”
Neal Brown on how it feels to be on the Hot Seat?
“Everyone in this profession has pressure. I feel very fortunate to do this for a living. I feel a sense of gratitude. We want to be better. We have to be better this year. That’s what our state and fans and our players deserve, and that’s what we’re working towards.”
Neal Brown on the Mountaineers being picked to finish last in the Big 12 Conference in the preseason polls
“Almost every preseason poll has us finishing last and I can guarantee you that we’re not going to finish last in the Big 12 Conference. We’re a much better football team than that. Now we’re anxious to go out and show it.”
“The players see it on social media, but we aren’t worried about what the media does and says. A lot of that is laziness too. We have almost 120 starts on the offensive line. We have a budding star in running back CJ Donaldson. Defensively, we have all league defenders at each level; Sean Martin will be an all-league player on the defensive line. Lee Kpogba is one of the leading returning tacklers and I think he’ll be an all-league player. And Aubrey Burks is one of the best safeties, if not the best safety in the league. We fell off last year on the defensive side and didn’t play as well as we had the first 3 years. We’ll get that rectified and play much better defense, and that will give us an opportunity to win. I firmly believe we’ll be better.”
Watch the full interview below:
