MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Five days have passed since West Virginia University announced Wren Baker would serve as the school’s 13th Director of Athletics.
Later that same day, the Mountaineers made it known Neal Brown would return for a fifth season as head football coach in 2023.
Considering how quick the turnaround was and needed to be in hiring Baker and announcing Brown’s status, it seems much of the decision to retain Brown came from President Gordon Gee.
On Monday, while Baker was welcomed to his new position in Morgantown, Gee elaborated on what went into bringing back Brown, who is 22-25 overall at West Virginia and just wrapped up a 5-7 season.
“We have had a challenging football year as we all know,” Gee said. “One of the things that I started realizing is the fact that really we really did put our football coach in a very challenging position because we played two Power 5 teams [Pitt and Kansas] right off the bat. The other thing is, the recent process came out noting that we had the toughest football schedule in the country. The fact that we’ve gone 5-7 in a very competitive environment is something I take a lot of pride in, because given everything, we played rather well.”
While many would disagree with taking pride in what was Brown’s third losing season at WVU, there’s little to debate when it comes to the difficulty of West Virginia’s schedule.
The Mountaineers were one of two teams in all of college football — Colorado the other — that faced 11 opponents from Power 5 Conferences in 2022. With the Big 12 Conference’s scheduling format including matchups against every league opponent up through this season, West Virginia was guaranteed nine conference matchups against Power 5 competition within its league.
The opener at Pitt along with the fourth game at Virginia Tech were the other two meetings with nine Power 5 teams, while a Week 3 home game against Towson was the only one that wasn’t.
Gee said Baker was consulted for input on the decision to bring back Brown and was in favor of it.
“We did talk with Wren, but he had already indicated his willingness to continue to work with and his enthusiasm working with the coach. That was very important to me,” Gee said. “We’re grateful to have Neal here.”
A key reason in West Virginia needing to decide on Brown’s fate not long after Baker’s hiring was Monday’s opening of the NCAA Transfer Portal. While every Division I football program is almost sure to lose and gain through the portal in today’s climate, leaving Brown’s status in limbo likely would’ve only increased the odds of more players departing. It also could have significantly weakened West Virginia’s upcoming recruiting class with signing day set for December 21.
“One of the things I want to say about coach Brown in addition to everything else is that few people have connected more clearly with West Virginia than has Neal Brown,” Gee said. “He embraced us and this is a moment in which we’re going to embrace each other now.”
Gee did not make reference to a buyout of more than $16 million that West Virginia would have been on the hook for had it fired Brown, thought that likely also played a role in his retention.
West Virginia’s schedule also doesn’t figure to get much, if any easier, next season. While the Big 12 is expanding to 14 teams with the addition of Houston, Central Florida, Cincinnati and BYU, the Mountaineers do not yet know their nine conference matchups. In non-league play, WVU opens at what’ll almost certainly be a ranked Penn State squad, before welcoming Duquesne and Pitt.
— — —
Two offensive players announced Monday they’ll enter the transfer portal — wide receiver Reese Smith and quarterback Will “Goose” Crowder.
Smith just wrapped up his third season in college with a career-high 19 receptions and 205 yards to go with one touchdown.
Smith has 42 receptions for 457 yards and two touchdowns over three seasons at WVU.
A native of Danville, Ky., the 5-foot-10, 187-pound Smith attended Boyle County High School, where Brown is an alumnus of.
He spoke in the offseason of putting in extra work to assume an expanded role, but was often West Virginia’s No. 4 receiver.
Smith, a sophomore, has two seasons of eligibility remaining.
Crowder recently finished his second season of college football after redshirting in 2021.
A 6-2, 220-pound native of Gardendale, Ala., Crowder played in one game in 2022 when he completed all six of his passes for 57 yards and one touchdown against Towson.
Crowder was 8-for-8 with 85 yards over limited action in two seasons with the Mountaineers. He never attempted a pass against a FBS opponent.
The three quarterbacks ahead of Crowder this season — JT Daniels, Garrett Greene and Nicco Marchiol — can each return to West Virginia.