Neal Brown Headed South?

As the coaching carousel begins to swirl, the rumors and hot takes increase daily. Currently some talking heads have began to look at Neal Brown as a potential replacement for Will Muschamp at South Carolina. All though this scenario is considered unlikely, it should come to light that with success, other suitors are going to make runs at our coach. Here’s a couple reasons why I think Neal Brown is home at WVU and also why he may have one foot out the door.

When the Mountaineers hired Neal Brown, the diehard fans did their research on the coach and learned everything they could about him. The casual fan waited and watched patiently as Brown implemented his system and began to shape the new culture of WVU football. As many of us expected, this is a marathon and not a sprint but the progress has began to be noticeable. Coach Brown is a family man with a great personality and a knack for winning football games, even when he is not expected to. He has a hard work attitude that fits in with the Mountaineer Mentality. These aspects along with the beginning of his recruits coming in are a couple reasons I couldn’t imagine him leaving us just yet.

But on the other hand, money talks! As bad as we hate to admit it, the Mountaineers don’t have the same money to throw around as SEC teams. Even the lower level of the SEC has deep pockets and that fact alone should make all WVU fans a little nervous. Now I'm not saying that we have no way of keeping Coach Brown here and happy but this is also a business. Just like in our everyday lives we try to better ourselves and improve our situations all the time. Just as we have that desire, I can assume so does Neal Brown. The SEC is also considered as one of the more superior conferences in college football (not to me though) and most coaches dream of one day making it to the SEC as a head coach. Although Coach Brown just got to us a little over 2 years ago, the right opportunity could cause a person to take that next step.

I write this article not as a doom and gloom, no hope left, time to start looking for a new coach story! I would also like to make it very clear that I am NOT reporting that he is interested in this position, interviewing for it, or even looked at it on google. My main point was to bring to light the fact that we have a good coach that to me seems under-appreciated by some of our fan base. Always looking to talk down about his style of coaching or how he does business. (Note: this is not all fans just some of the fair-weather folks.) What we need to realize is Neal Brown has this team and program on the right path to success. If we give it time and trust the climb, he WILL win a Big 12 championship before its all said and done. We just have to realize that teams are gonna take runs at him as he continues to show how dominant of a coach he can be. That is why I think it is very crucial that WVU get him locked in with an extension. Even if the money may not match what other schools can offer, lets show Coach Brown that we truly want him here. Let's show him how it feels to have 1.8 million Mountaineers on your side and just how great it is to be head coach at West Virginia University.