Neal Brown: 'You Can’t Have All the Good Without Experiencing the Bad'

West Virginia is looking to bounce back after a tough road loss to Pitt.

Schuyler Callihan | Sep 17, 2024

Barry Reeger-Imagn Images

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West Virginia Mountaineers

This past Saturday, the West Virginia Mountaineers blew a fourth quarter lead on the road against Pitt for the second time in as many trips to Acrisure Stadium under head coach Neal Brown. After an offseason filled with hope and optimism surrounding the program, the tune has turned to whether or not this team is on the brink of a collapse while hot seat talk has returned for the man leading the ship.

To make matters worse, the upcoming Big 12 schedule does not treat the Mountaineers kind whatsoever. Three of their first four games in league play come against ranked opponents and the team they play this weekend, Kansas, was viewed as a darkhorse by many to win the Big 12. They enter this contest with the same disappointing 1-2 record, but are hoping for some déjà vu as the last time they played WVU in Morgantown, WVU came off a heartbreaking loss to Pitt on the road. Same situation here.

How can this West Virginia team rebound from a loss like last Saturday's and ignore all of the negativity on social media? Neal Brown was asked about it during his press conference on Monday.

“Disappointed we didn’t finish the game on Saturday. Up ten, less than five (minutes), you should win the game. No excuses, have to get better. We own it, we didn’t get it done. We had it in our grasp and didn’t finish. We’re not going to feel sorry for ourselves," said Brown. "We’re not going to sit around and be miserable. There’s people with real problems in this world and it’s not us. We didn’t play good enough in the game of football. We got to get it fixed and we will. The mentality has got to be we’ve got one football game and that’s Kansas.

“The players will take whatever direction I take," Brown continued. "You don’t ignore it. I have the benefit of just kind of hunkering down. They don’t necessarily do that. They’ve got to go to class, they’re on their phones…that’s how they live. But there’s a lot of negativity, which happens when you play at a place where it matters. You can’t have all the good without experiencing the bad. And so when you lose and you lose a rivalry game that you were ahead in the final minutes, there’s going to be negativity. You have to process it, own your own mistakes, and then you’ve got to go about playing better. I’m not going to allow them to be miserable. I’m not going to allow them to hang their heads. We’re going to get better. We’ve got good players. We’ve got a staff that can get it turned and we will.”

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