Morgantown, West Virginia – Another day, another heartbreaking, gut-wrenching loss that should have never happened.
West Virginia lost again to an inferior team and this time it was at home and during homecoming week. The Mountaineers moved to 2-3 on the season and Neal Brown is now 13-14 in his third season in Morgantown.
This is unacceptable. Neal Brown makes $3.98 million a year for absolute mediocrity. While he has pleaded with West Virginia fans to trust the climb, the trust is now gone. West Virginia has a tremendous recruiting class coming in, but has utterly failed on the field where it matters.
Brown is too conservative
Time and time again, Neal Brown’s vanilla, predictable play-calling has lost games. His insistence on calling plays – something no other Power 5 head coach does – continues to cost the Mountaineers.
If Brown stays, Shane Lyons should insist on him hiring a real, proven offensive coordinator.
The team hasn’t improved on the field
Name one way that the Mountaineers have shown growth on the field. They are no better offensively, defensively, on special teams, anywhere, since Neal Brown became the head coach in 2019.
In addition, Brown hasn’t shown any personal growth either. He hasn’t shown an ability to win close games, he hasn’t shown an ability to pull off big upsets and he hasn’t grown as a leader of the program.
Neal Brown hasn’t beaten anyone that he shouldn’t have
While some may say that West Virginia’s victory over Virginia Tech in the third week was a signature win, the Mountaineers were favored to win and it was at home. That’s not a game that West Virginia should have lost.
And to be frank, Neal Brown nearly lost that game with his dreadful play-calling in the second half. Brown was brought into win games that he shouldn’t win, like he did at Troy. So far, he simply hasn’t done that.
Shane Lyons’ decision to extend Brown during the offseason was a mistake
Lyons giving Neal Brown an extension during the offseason after a 10-10 record through two seasons was absolutely ridiculous. Unfortunately, Lyons put his stamp of approval on very average results. A .500 record at West Virginia University should be something coaches should be fired over, not rewarded for.
