— By Joe Brocato & Greg Carey
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Neal Brown’s 72nd game as head coach at West Virginia was a rather forgetful one, with the Mountaineers non-competitive in a 52-15 loss at Texas Tech.
Brown will not get a 73rd game at WVU.
After six seasons, West Virginia has parted ways with Brown, who ends his tenure in Morgantown with a 37-35 record.
Following the 2023 season, Brown’s contract was extended one year through 2027. West Virginia is on the hook to pay 75 percent of Brown’s buyout, which comes out to roughly $9 million.
Brown won more than six games once (in 2023) at WVU and finishes with a 25-28 record in Big 12 play.
The Mountaineers were 22-14 at home under Brown, though only 16-14 against FBS competition. WVU was 31-35 against FBS teams under Brown’s watch, including 25-28 within the Big 12. The Mountaineers won 13 of 33 road games under Brown.
“Coach Brown is a great person, and he has served as a tremendous ambassador for West Virginia University,” WVU Athletic Director Wren Baker said. “He led our storied program with class and integrity and always put in the hard work necessary to allow for success. We are grateful to Neal, his wife, Brooke, and their children for their contributions to our University, community and state, and we wish them the very best in their next endeavor.
““We will keep our focus on the incredible young men in our program and preparing for our bowl game,” Baker added. “Our national search for WVU’s 36th head football coach is already underway. I am confident that with the strong alignment among the University leadership, our passionate supporters, our proud history and our willingness to invest, we will have an outstanding pool of candidates.”
Brown was hired to lead the Mountaineers after a four-year stint guiding Troy. The Trojans went 35-16 with three bowl appearances.
Brown inherited a thinned-out roster in his first season. The Mountaineers went 5-7, winning two of their final three games. A year later, WVU went 6-4 in the COVID-altered season. West Virginia capped the year with a win over Army in the Liberty Bowl.
West Virginia was unable to build on that progress in Brown’s third season. The Mountaineers went 6-7, losing to Minnesota in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.
Optimism began to build a year later with the arrival of highly-touted transfer quarterback JT Daniels and the addition of Graham Harrell as offensive coordinator. However, WVU missed out on a bowl for the second time in four seasons after posting a 5-7 record. Late that season, Brown assumed control of the offense, and Harrell lasted just one year in Morgantown.
Following the 2022 season, Brown was retained by incoming Director of Athletics Wren Baker shortly after Baker was hired.
In 2023, Brown authored his best season despite West Virginia being picked 14th out of 14 teams in the Big 12 Conference preseason poll. The Mountaineers went 9-4 (6-3 in Big 12 play) and capped the season with a win over North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
Expectations were elevated as Brown began his sixth season this fall. However, the Mountaineers lost to rival programs Penn State and Pittsburgh in the first three weeks of the season. WVU was no match for the Nittany Lions, falling 34-12 in a highly-anticipated season opener that featured national pregame program spotlights from the Pat McAfee Show and Fox Big Noon Saturday. Two weeks later, West Virginia squandered a ten-point fourth quarter lead in a 38-34 loss at Pitt.
After back-to-back wins over Kansas and Oklahoma State, the Mountaineers lost back-to-back home games to Iowa State and Kansas State. Another double-digit loss at home to Baylor followed. WVU went 3-4 at Milan Puskar Stadium this season with all three victories coming against teams that finished with losing records.
Following a win at Arizona and ahead of a matchup at Cincinnati, Brown elected to let go of defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley, who had held that title since the 2021 season. Lesley was replaced for the final four regular season games by Jeff Koonz.
West Virginia’s defense finished 13th in the 16-team Big 12 Conference in points allowed (31.1) and yards allowed (410.4) as the Mountaineers consistently struggled defending the pass.
The Mountaineers fell to 6-6 Saturday with the 37-point loss to the Red Raiders. None of the six victories came against bowl-eligible teams. The average margin of defeat in the six was losses was 19.3 points and the four home setbacks came by an average of 18.8 points.
WVU was not ranked in The Associated Press poll during Brown’s tenure.