Neal Brown on football and The Fugees

(Neal Brown MetroNews Talkline interview)

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — In the middle of West Virginia’s second bye week of the season, WVU head coach Neal Brown appeared as a guest on MetroNews Talkline Wednesday morning. Fresh off a 27-21 double overtime win over Baylor, the Mountaineers will be heavily favored to up their record to 3-1 when they host Kansas next Saturday.

Even though Baylor is not highly regarded as a top contender for the Big 12 title, Brown hasn’t forgotten what the Bears accomplished a year ago.

“I got the feeling during the week that maybe our fanbase, maybe national media didn’t really appreciate what Baylor did last year,” Brown said. “Baylor was a program that was two years removed from winning one game. They flipped the script totally and won eleven games last year, played in the Big 12 Conference championship, played in the Sugar Bowl.

“We talked within our program all week about this grit. We knew it was going to be a bit of a slugfest. I thought we would play better than we did offensively. I didn’t think we would turn the ball over three times in the first half. But I knew it was going to be a back-and-forth game and a defensive struggle. I knew it was going to be hard to beat those guys just because they won so many close games in the last two years.”

In their two Big 12 games, the Mountaineer offense has scored just 27 points in regulation. Brown acknowledges there is significant room for improvement on that side of the ball.

“We have to get better, especially on offense. But I just felt like it was a big program win. Last year, we found a way to lose those types of games, the game in Waco last year being one of those.”

WVU was a perfect 2-for-2 on their overtime possessions, scoring a pair of touchdowns, including Leddie Brown’s game-winning three-yard tote to end it. West Virginia’s first overtime score was set up by a successful 4th-and-1 conversion from the 16-yard-line.

“As a head coach, you have to make a lot of those decisions before you get there, because you never know when you are going to have an overtime game.

“We have a data analytics company we work with called CAI. One of their offseason studies was about overtime. Specifically if you get the ball first in overtime and a team takes a field goal, more often they lose that game. If we got the ball first, I knew we were going to be aggressive. Now if it is a 4th-and-5 or 4th-and-4, we are probably going to kick that field goal. Being fourth and a yard, I thought there was way more reward than there was risk.”

Off the field, Brown says he has wide tastes in music. Van Halen lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen passed away Tuesday at age 65.

“I did not know until this morning that he did the guitar riff for Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat it’. I had no idea.

“You talk about a life well-lived. His life was right up there.”

To relate to his players and staff, Brown acknowledges that is important to keep up on what is trending.

“I need to stay up on current culture. So I can go from hip-hop to contemporary christian to rock and to country.

“I can remember getting my first vehicle (a Mazda 626), Kenny Chesney was just kind of taking off in the country genre. The Fugees were big. I am pretty diverse.”





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