Neal Brown Mentioned as Potential Candidate for Head Coaching Job at His Alma Mater

The West Virginia head coach's future in Morgantown is uncertain, but this rumor seems unlikely.

Ben Queen-Imagn Images

Neal Brown's tenure at West Virginia has not produced many positive results. After a few years of telling the fans to "Trust the Climb," frustration with the state of the football program has reached levels we haven't seen in Morgantown in quite some time.

With two games to go in the 2024 season, the Mountaineers have a very disappointing 5-5 record and must beat either UCF or Texas Tech to reach a bowl game. Failing to do so would mark the third time in six years that the Mountaineers didn't go bowling. He's also in danger of collecting his fourth losing season in six years, which would be considered one of the worst six-year runs in program history.

Brown's future at West Virginia seems uncertain, and because of it, you'll start to hear more rumors and links to other jobs for the Mountaineer header the deeper we get into the month of November. The first lower-tier job Brown is being linked to is UMass, who recently fired their coach Don Brown after going 6-28 in three seasons.

According to Garrett Cote of the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Neal Brown could be considered by UMass' administration.

"Another top choice is Neal Brown, the current head coach at West Virginia – where he has gone 36-34 and won two bowl games since taking over in 2019. Brown played wide receiver at UMass in the early 2000s before joining the Minutemen staff as the tight ends coach. UMass Chancellor Javier Reyes crossed paths and was very involved with Neal Brown at West Virginia, and the Paul Gorham Auditorium inside of the Martin Jacobson Football Performance Center was donated by Neal Brown and his wife Brooke."

While the connection makes sense, it's very unlikely that Brown would leave West Virginia for UMass on his own. If WVU decides to move on from Brown, then sure. But there's no way anyone would go from a job making roughly $4 million per year to a school that paid its last coach a little over $800k per year.

If West Virginia is leaning in the direction of wanting to move on from Brown but wants to avoid the buyout, the best-case scenario would be that he does leave on his own for another job, similar to what Dana Holgorsen did back in 2019 when he went to Houston. That, too, is considered unlikely because I'm not sure there is a Group of Five school out there that is willing to pay Power Four money like Dana's buddy, Tilman Fertitta, did.

Brown will most likely stay put as the head coach at West Virginia heading into 2025 unless they drop these last two games of the season and the administration feels like they have no choice but to make a move.

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