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Making his case: Brown had earned right to keep job as WVU coach

By Bob Hertzel 6 min read
article image - Chris Jackson
West Virginia head coach Neal Brown looks on during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Cincinnati, Nov. 18 in Morgantown.

MORGANTOWN — First of all, let me say that I did not vote in that preseason media poll where West Virginia was picked to finish 14th in the Big 12, so I will not accept thanks from Mountaineer fans for helping inspire them to an 8-4 regular season and a bowl invite.

I don’t think I would have put them 14th had I voted, but it sure as hell wouldn’t have been fourth or fifth, either.

Truth is, at that time, I was plotting in the back of my mind what I would write when new athletic director Wren Baker pulled the rug out from under Neal Brown at the end of another losing season and I had gotten as far as this:

When Shane Lyons hired Neal Brown to coach football at West Virginia he hired the right man for the job.

Unfortunately, he didn’t hire the right coach for the job.

What I was trying to say was that Brown had come in and done everything you could ask of him right … except win games.

He brought in a different culture than Dana Holgorsen had developed, a — How should I say this? — a more cultured culture. He was bringing in players you and I would have been proud to call sons and he raised them the way you and I would want to raise our sons.

He made them a part of the community, not just a symbol of the community. They were at Children’s Hospital, in classrooms, mixing in with the fans and citizens of the state they were representing.

If only they could tackle.

Now they can. Except on kickoffs.

He showed patience, far more than did the fans. He begged the fans to “Trust the Climb” while they saw him as someone who was shimmying up a greased rope, moving up one step and sliding back two.

He believed in what he was doing and staked his claim and reputation on quarterback Garrett Greene, who was hardly the prototypical collegiate QB, built an offense around him and waited and waited for a return.

He got it Saturday night with another thrilling, game-winning drive that ended with a perfect pitch from Greene to Jaheim White for the winning touchdown with 23 seconds left.

It was a pass Greene never would have completed early this year when he was missing “layups,” as Brown termed them.

“He’s like my oldest daughter,” Brown said. “Some lessons are hard, you have to learn them by doing them. He’s learned some hard lessons in two-minute drills in practice, but those have helped him become the two-minute guy he is now.”

His coaching staff early on turned into a game of musical chairs, but as this year dawned he had a seat for everyone at the table.

And who didn’t question it when he wrested the play-calling assignment away from his assistants and gave it back to himself? Not much complaining now as WVU has piled up the points and the yardage game after game.

His team was not elite by any means … but it was getting there.

He gave us a glimpse of what they might be like last year when they won two of their last three games with Greene quarterbacking, beating both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in the same season.

Last year was a losing season by the record but a winning season in the strides that it made.

Things were falling into place but Brown had to prove he knew what to do with those pieces. He wound up using the transfer portal rather than having the transfer portal use him.

There was Beanie Bishop, Lee Kpogba, Nester, Mike Lockhart, Devin Carter, Davoan Hawkins, Tomiwa Durojaiye being major contributors after transferring in.

He found gems in this freshman recruiting class … Jaheim White being a prize any program would like, Hudson Clement being another and Ben Cutter, Rodney Gallagher, Trey Lathan being three more.

He mined the state of West Virginia as it should be mined, not for coal but for football players.

Call it clean energy, if you would, but Zach Frazier, Wyatt Milum, Doug Nester, Preston Fox, Sean Martin, Nick Malone and Graeson Malashevich made the team West Virginia’s own.

“Let’s talk about Hudson Clement,” Brown said in his postgame press conference in Waco. “Was it two or three plays (he made) on that drive? This is a kid from Martinsburg, right? He made some big plays and Preston (Fox) had to leave (with an injury) but he made a great catch.

“I’m surprised it hasn’t caught on more. I tried to talk about the kids we have from West Virginia on offense but we’ve been pretty good on offense, especially in our league. Look at the number of West Virginia guys we have who have been heavy contributors. I bet you’d be hard pressed to find too many West Virginia guys making a significant contribution like they are now.”

He scoured the world for talent, too, knowing no borders. Australian Ollie Straw punted and Finland’s Eddie Vesterinen made one of the key plays in the closing victory over Baylor.

It all has come together with what could be a nine-win season and misses by one Hail Mary pass being a 10-win season.

Still …

“I think nine wins would be significant,” Brown said. “They won 10 games in ’16 and other than that haven’t won nine since joining the Big 12,” Brown said. “We’ve got second-most wins in the Big 12, which I think is significant. We got from being picked 14th in the preseason — I tried to tell everybody they were wrong — and we finished, what? Fourth?

The Mountaineers tied Kansas State and Iowa State for fourth place at 6-3 in the 14-team Big 12.

Brown was masterful in the way he wove that prediction of finishing 14th into a driving force behind this season, never giving up using it as a motivational device even in the down times.

I am glad I don’t have to make the decision on his future, but if I had a vote I would cast it to keep him as WVU’s coach to see through to the end what he has started here.

To fire him would be to start over, and it comes with no guarantees of success. This is Brown’s team and his presence may be enough to keep it intact as the Big 12 morphs into whatever it is to become in its new configuration.

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