Pat McAfee Reacts to Neal Brown's Bizarre Message to WVU Fans

The former WVU punter/kicker gives his thoughts on the head coach's recent statement.

Schuyler Callihan | Oct 15, 2024

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West Virginia Mountaineers

You had to know this was coming, right? Not even 24 hours after West Virginia head coach Neal Brown gave a very odd message to the fans about coming out for this week's home game against Kansas State, the quotes made their way over to the Pat McAfee Show on ESPN.

In short, Brown began his "message" by asking the fans if they had fun and enjoyed tailgating despite the outcome of the game. Uh no, Neal. They didn't. West Virginia is one of the most expensive gameday experiences in all of college football, so they're not coming for a tailgating party. They're there to watch the Mountaineers win.

McAfee and his crew were talking about Eagles head coach Nick Sirriani, but a few members of his panel started to turn the conversation into Neal Brown's message which McAfee went on a roughly three-minute spiel about.

“I don’t like what this conversation has become. This was supposed to be a compliment to coach (Nick) Sirriani and how he operates, but you guys want to take this to West Virginia. I don’t like that one bit. There’s no way that is actually his message to the fans. I think he was asked hey fans are wondering why the hell they should come to this Kansas State game in Morgantown one week removed from what just happened against Iowa State.

“There’s a lot of people not happy about any of it. I tell you what, I’ve heard about hot seats…that one is on top of a couch that used to burn there in Morgantown. Now, I’m not saying that’s how the university feels. I’m just saying from the humans that I talk to and interact with that are from West Virginia whether it’s former players, alumni, or donors…nobody is thrilled.

“All these stats that are coming out about the current era…just none of them are like that’s a top-level program.I think if you look at the situation around the rest of the football world in West Virginia - uniforms sick, good Nike deal, we got money with the collective, fans, look at what they did for our show. We have a first-class fanbase who fill up that stadium and travel from all parts of that state to go watch.

"Everything around the football on the field…the brand, the logo, tradition, everything is there. It’s like hey, we got it all here so there is no real reason. And we’re in the Big 12 which seemingly is a good conference to be in to get to the 12-team playoff. So whenever we lose all the games that are big ones just repetitively one after another, it’s hard to keep the hope for the football because everything around it is awesome.

"Everything you need to sell a team and to sell a school, we have it except for those massive wins. But that’s going to change this weekend with Kansas State. It’s going to be much more fun than last week, Neal. You win a game it’s more fun, Neal! You got to remember that when you’re talking to the media.”

You guys are trying to take this to West Virginia

There's NO WAY this was the message to the fans #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/7Gq735rjMQ
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 15, 2024

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