West Virginia to fire Neal Brown: Mountaineers coach led team to just two winning seasons across six years

USATSI

West Virginia is set to fire sixth-year coach Neal Brown, sources confirmed to CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz. Brown’s ouster comes on the heels of a devastating 52-15 loss at Texas Tech to drop the Mountaineers to 6-6 on the season and Brown to 37-35 overall in Morgantown. 

Ultimately, Brown’s undoing was a product of that mediocrity; his teams were rarely outright bad, but they were even more rarely able to punch up. The Mountaineers always won at least three Big 12 games and reached a bowl game in four of his final five seasons, but West Virginia posted more than six wins only once over that stretch. West Virginia joins Texas Tech and Rutgers as the only teams in the Power Four to not reach the AP Top 25 at any point since 2019. 

Against Texas Tech, the wheels finally flew off for the Mountaineers. The Red Raiders took a 35-3 lead in the first half and cleared 569 total yards, including 188 yards and three touchdowns on the ground from star running back Tahj Brooks. It was the third loss of five touchdowns or more in the past three seasons. 

Brown attempted to stem the bleeding earlier this season by firing defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley, who had been with Brown since his Troy days. However, the Mountaineers still went 2-2 post-Lesley and surrendered an average of 36.5 points per game. 

Ultimately, Brown’s inability to punch up proved to be his greatest shortcoming with the Mountaineers. West Virginia lost 10 straight games against ranked opponents, including losses against No. 8 Penn State, No. 11 Iowa State and No. 17 Kansas State in 2024 that all came by an…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/west-virginia-to-fire-neal-brown-mountaineers-coach-led-team-to-just-two-winning-seasons-across-six-years/

Author : Shehan Jeyarajah

Publish date : 2024-12-01 20:50:00

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