Sunday Morning Thoughts: Neal Brown, Welcome Back to the Hot Seat

Recapping WVU's 38-34 loss to Pitt in the Backyard Brawl.

Schuyler Callihan | Sep 15, 2024

Sep 7, 2024; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Neal Brown speaks with Albany Great Danes head coach Greg Gattuso after the game at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images / Ben Queen-Imagn Images

In this story:

West Virginia Mountaineers

In 2023, West Virginia head coach Neal Brown coached his way off of the hot seat with a nine-win campaign. It seemed as if the Mountaineers were finally turning the corner and the climb was actually happening. WVU brought back all but two players on the offensive side of the ball, including a dual-threat quarterback in Garrett Greene.

Three games into the 2024 season and all that momentum the program had captured last season is now gone. Every single ounce of it. Gone.

Losing to Penn State was expected. But losing in the fashion they did to the Nittany Lions is the issue. The bigger problem though is blowing a ten-point lead on the road against your bitter rival, Pitt. It's the second time in three years this team has choked away a game in the Backyard Brawl.

So much went wrong in this game and I put a lot of blame on the coaching staff for it. So before we get deeper into the bigger picture, let's discuss what transpired at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday night.

At the end of the first half, Neal Brown played with fire. He called timeout with 25 seconds left before kicking the game-tying field goal. Why? Why burn the timeout that early and give Pitt a chance to do something against this horrid secondary? I don't want to hear either that it was 4th & 1 and they needed time to think about whether or not they wanted to go for it. No. That decision needs to be made on third down. Brown could have let that thing drain down to three seconds before stopping the clock which would have made the field goal the final play of the half.

To make matters worse, WVU then elects to do a pooch kick on the ensuing kickoff. Again, why? What is the thinking here? Boot the darn thing through the back of the end zone for crying out loud. The Panthers, believe it or not, received better field position on the pooch kick than if the ball were to have traveled out of bounds. You don't give Pitt, who still had a timeout, 21 seconds to get into field goal range. That's plenty of time to make something happen. And this whole kickoff dilemma is reaching ridiculousness if we're being totally honest. Michael Hayes had a high touchback rate while at Georgia State and has not put the ball through the end zone very often as a Mountaineer. Did he forget how to do it? No. Brown was asked about this twice last week and both times stated that they're trying to kick it through the end zone but they're not executing. Really? Then why do kicks continue to go to the corner? If' you're not kicking a playable ball, then blast it through the uprights.

Offensively, WVU did what it wanted to for the most part. They had success through the air and on the ground but failed miserably when they needed it most. Pat Narduzzi, the players, the media, and everyone in that stadium knew exactly what WVU was going to do when they were trying to protect a 34-31 lead late in the game. Run up the middle, run up the middle, run up the middle. Again, WVU had success doing it all day but you can't be predictable in that situation. Narduzzi loaded the box and Brown continued to just run Donaldson into a wall. For an offense that is so RPO-heavy, why do you not attach an RPO onto a play there? If the run is there, run. If it's not, flip it out to the flat or to tight end Kole Taylor for a quick five-yard gain.

Last thing on the offense here. I understand the idea behind running CJ Donaldson wide because it sets up the bounce back later in the game. But why are the wide runs with a 240-pound back coming on got to have it situations or short-yardage situations? You need two yards and instead of getting downhill, they asked Donaldson to run six yards east/west to get two yards north. Make it make sense.

Defensively, it's a mess. It's nearing 2013 territory folks. Well, at least the pass defense is. Yes, it's that bad and I'm not sure it can be fixed. I gave defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley and this unit a pass (pun intended) through the first two weeks because it was Penn State, it was an FCS team that they slightly overlooked, and it was a secondary mostly made up of transfers still trying to figure out how to play together. This was the barometer and they failed flat on their face. Every time Eli Holstein dropped back to pass, you could sense a big play coming. They have absolutely no answers schematically or personnel-wise to slow down the passing game.

How long does this go on?

Three losing seasons in the first four years, a nine-win season versus a light schedule, and a 1-2 start to year six. A horrible ending in Oklahoma in 2021, two blown Backyard Brawls, a Hail Mary in Houston, your gunner running into your punt returner to change the Oklahoma State game. Should I keep going?

At some point, patience is going to wear thin within the administration. They need results. One nine-win year isn't enough to allow another disappointing season. As a matter of fact, the 2023 season means absolutely nothing if you don't build on it, and with the schedule they have coming up, it seems like eight-plus wins are out of reach. Mediocrity should not be tolerated. Period. This program has not spent a single week in the AP Top 25 since Brown took over. Only five Mountaineers have been drafted during his tenure which is the same number of players drafted in Dana Holgorsen's final year at WVU alone.

It's time for results, Neal. It's now or never and I'm pretty sure now just walked out the door. Blowing a 10-point lead with three minutes and some change against Pitt is a fireable offense. Completely destroying all momentum from 2023 is another. If this ship isn't righted soon, a changing of the guard is needed.

MORE STORIES FROM WEST VIRGINIA ON SI