There's No Walking It Back for Neal Brown; Winning Cures All

West Virginia head coach Neal Brown just needs to win to earn back the trust of the fanbase.

Ben Queen-Imagn Images

In case you haven't been paying attention lately, West Virginia head coach Neal Brown made the national news this week thanks to his bizarre message to the fans following a loss to Iowa State. On Thursday during his radio show, he was able to respond to the backlash.

Snippet from Brown's response

"I think first of all, it wasn't my best answer, right? I take ownership of that. I own it. It wasn't my best answer. But let me be clear, I want to start with this is I hate losing. I think anyone that's been around me knows that. It's not okay. Can't stand it. I think every coach and player in our building can second that and I think every coach and player in our building feels the same way.

"I fully understand the expectations and the scrutiny that comes with this job. I do get it and it's part of it when you're in a public space. If you want to criticize us on losing on Saturday, that's fair. If you want to criticize a play in the game, that's fair. If you want to criticize a recruiting decision, that's fair. Anything to with football or a particular game, I think that's fair. Scrutiny over this comment, I don't know if it's fair."

There's no walking it back

While Brown did the right thing by addressing the comments, it still wasn't the perfect response. Did it get taken out of context? I don't know. That's for you, the fans, to judge. He said what he said and once the first few words of his response on Monday were uttered, no one cared about the rest of what he had to say.

The fact of the matter is this is a results-oriented business. If you don't produce, people are going to be upset. They are going to look for every little thing to be upset with you about and run with it. The last thing you can do is further tick people off by misspeaking, painting the canvas as if the results don't matter. Of course, Neal hates losing and did not mean for it to come across as he's okay with those types of results, but it was a lazy way to answer the question that was asked.

He says he understands what comes with this job, but then questions why his comments received so much scrutiny. When things aren't going your way and haven't since the day you took said job, you're open to being scrutinized for everything you do, fair or not. That, unfortunately, is part of being a head coach at a place like West Virginia, where the results of the game mean so much to the people in the state.

Brown had the opportunity to explain what he meant to say and then move forward. Not question the validity of the backlash. That's not going to make the situation any better, as you can probably tell by the reaction of fans on social media.

Winning cures all

The only way for everyone to look back on this past week and laugh is by winning football games and building a program that is consistently a Big 12 contender. There is no perfect statement, message, or apology that Neal can offer that will earn back the respect of a large portion of the fanbase.

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