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  • VAUGHT: Neal Brown an attractive candidate for West Virginia

    By LARRY VAUGHT

    If Neal Brown is going to become the next head coach at West Virginia, don’t be surprised if it happens in the next 48 hours.

    Houston officially hired Dana Holgorsen away from West Virginia Wednesday after he went 61-41 with the Mountaineers. He spent two seasons as Houston’s offensive coordinator in 2008-09.

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    Comments 18 Comments
    1. ShoesSwayedBlue's Avatar
      ShoesSwayedBlue -
      It may sound arrogant to think he would automatically jump to UK if the opportunity rises, but I believe he would. WVU would be a great training and proving ground for him for the UK job.
    1. catmanjack's Avatar
      catmanjack -
      Then the question would be how good was his relationship with UK?
    1. Catfan73's Avatar
      Catfan73 -
      West Virginia doesn’t have near the population base to pull from but they’re very close to the Pittsburgh area and much closer to the DC-Baltimore area than UK.
    1. Catonahottinroof's Avatar
      Catonahottinroof -
      They draw the same crowd sizes UK does and have pretty fertile recruiting grounds in Ohio and Pennsylvania nearby.
      Quote Originally Posted by Catfan73 View Post
      West Virginia doesn’t have near the population base to pull from but they’re very close to the Pittsburgh area and much closer to the DC-Baltimore area than UK.
    1. KSRBEvans's Avatar
      KSRBEvans -
      Pete Thamel and multiple other sources--Brown is the choice for next WVU coach, working on contract:

      https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/statu...31356720439296
    1. Bakert's Avatar
      Bakert -
      Quote Originally Posted by KSRBEvans View Post
      Pete Thamel and multiple other sources--Brown is the choice for next WVU coach, working on contract:

      https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/statu...31356720439296
      That's a good move for him. I love his offense and this is the step that could get him to a big time program.
    1. Darrell KSR's Avatar
      Darrell KSR -
      It's a good move for West Virginia.
    1. Darrell KSR's Avatar
      Darrell KSR -
      @BarrettSallee: An absolute home run for West Virginia. Neal Brown is one of six coaches who have 10 or more wins in each of the last three seasons (Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney, Urban Meyer, Chris Petersen, Bryan Harsin)

      http://bit.ly/2RaKt3I
    1. Bakert's Avatar
      Bakert -
      Quote Originally Posted by Darrell KSR View Post
      It's a good move for West Virginia.
      It's a better move for Brown.

      But of course it's a good move for both. It gives WVU one of the best offensive minds around and it gives him a chance to see if he can run a big program. Lots of "can't miss" guys struggle a bit when the scope of the job gets quadrupled. My concern with Brown is that he has never seen what running a big time program is really like. He may be able to make the jump, and I hope he does, or he may not.
    1. Catfan73's Avatar
      Catfan73 -
      I think it’s a great hire for WVU. The expectations will be higher than he’s used to but schools like UNCheat will regret passing on him.
    1. Terry Blue's Avatar
      Terry Blue -
      LV just told me not quite a done deal yet
      Neal hasn't signed contracr
    1. Darrell KSR's Avatar
      Darrell KSR -
      Quote Originally Posted by Bakert View Post
      It's a better move for Brown.
      Really? Explain. You'll have to sell me on that one. In fact, I could argue it's a mistake by Neal to take this job. Everything was pointing to a stronger year at Troy next year than this year, and his stock climbing even higher than it already is.

      I still think it's a good move for him, but a better one for West Virginia, and I don't think it's close.
    1. Bakert's Avatar
      Bakert -
      Quote Originally Posted by Darrell KSR View Post
      Really? Explain. You'll have to sell me on that one. In fact, I could argue it's a mistake by Neal to take this job. Everything was pointing to a stronger year at Troy next year than this year, and his stock climbing even higher than it already is.

      I still think it's a good move for him, but a better one for West Virginia, and I don't think it's close.
      There are no issues with Brown's ability to coach football. There are, however, in my mind questions about anyone's ability to manage a program like WVU until they prove they can. And, yes, how do you prove you can if you don't get the chance? Maybe be at a program like that in some other capacity. It's why I suggested last week he would have been smart to have taken an off coordinator position at a big time program (maybe one in the state where he currently lives? ) to see what it's like to be at a program like that.

      He may prove be outstanding at it. But other can't miss guys have not been able to make the jump from smaller programs to the big time. Will Muschamp was an outstanding d-coordinator but has not yet proven he can do it at the top. The current basketball coach at TX (his name escaped me) was great at a mid-major but hasn't gotten it done in the big leagues. Jim McElvaine was a great off coordinator at Bama and pretty good at CSU, but awful at Florida. It's not just about X's and O's, it's about managing the entire enterprise. And sure he's doing that at Troy, but the scale gets much bigger very quickly.

      I know I come off as not believing Brown is a good coach, but nothing could be further from the truth. I think is offense is genius and from that perspective he has a big future ahead of him. But if I'm a Power 5 team I'd feel a whole lot more comfortable hiring him if he had gotten some experience at a Power 5 program. And he might have no problems in the least taking over and managing the program at WVU. But I do know I'd much rather have an off or def coordinator at an "aspirational" program take the head job at UK than someone from a school like Troy.
    1. Darrell KSR's Avatar
      Darrell KSR -
      Quote Originally Posted by Bakert View Post
      There are no issues with Brown's ability to coach football. There are, however, in my mind questions about anyone's ability to manage a program like WVU until they prove they can. And, yes, how do you prove you can if you don't get the chance? Maybe be at a program like that in some other capacity. It's why I suggested last week he would have been smart to have taken an off coordinator position at a big time program (maybe one in the state where he currently lives? ) to see what it's like to be at a program like that.

      He may prove be outstanding at it. But other can't miss guys have not been able to make the jump from smaller programs to the big time. Will Muschamp was an outstanding d-coordinator but has not yet proven he can do it at the top. The current basketball coach at TX (his name escaped me) was great at a mid-major but hasn't gotten it done in the big leagues. Jim McElvaine was a great off coordinator at Bama and pretty good at CSU, but awful at Florida. It's not just about X's and O's, it's about managing the entire enterprise. And sure he's doing that at Troy, but the scale gets much bigger very quickly.

      I know I come off as not believing Brown is a good coach, but nothing could be further from the truth. I think is offense is genius and from that perspective he has a big future ahead of him. But if I'm a Power 5 team I'd feel a whole lot more comfortable hiring him if he had gotten some experience at a Power 5 program. And he might have no problems in the least taking over and managing the program at WVU. But I do know I'd much rather have an off or def coordinator at an "aspirational" program take the head job at UK than someone from a school like Troy.
      Hmm.

      Seems to me you just made a case that it might not have been a good move for him to go to West Virginia. And that he might have been better off somewhere else.

      If it's a bad move for him, and a bad move for West Virginia, I guess I can buy some argument that it's a better bad move for him than West Virginia. But I think your reasoning is a bit contorted.

      I'm not positive that he couldn't get a better job this year than WV. I'm very confident he could next year. That's why it's a better more for WV than it is for him.

      I don't think it's close.
    1. Darrell KSR's Avatar
      Darrell KSR -
      @vaughtsviews: Sources confirm to me that it is now OFFICIAL. @CoachBrownTROY has worked out all details with West Virginia and has taken the head coaching job
    1. Bakert's Avatar
      Bakert -
      Quote Originally Posted by Darrell KSR View Post
      Hmm.

      Seems to me you just made a case that it might not have been a good move for him to go to West Virginia. And that he might have been better off somewhere else.

      If it's a bad move for him, and a bad move for West Virginia, I guess I can buy some argument that it's a better bad move for him than West Virginia. But I think your reasoning is a bit contorted.

      I'm not positive that he couldn't get a better job this year than WV. I'm very confident he could next year. That's why it's a better more for WV than it is for him.

      I don't think it's close.
      I think for me it's less about Brown/WVU and simply that it's always a greater risk to the program than the individual hired. What's the worse that can happen to Brown? He will get paid more money in a few years than most people will see in a lifetime and then paid money to go away. Due to the insular nature of coaching he will get another job and it will likely be a good job. Mike Locksley went 2-26 from 2009-2012 at New Mexico and was immediately hired to be OC at Maryland in 2012 and is now head coach there.

      As to the program, they have to suffer under a less than successful period of time which makes it even harder to get to where they want to be. Remember, no one expected even Cal to get UK back to where we got as quickly as we did and that was after only two years of BCG.

      So it's not so much about Brown, per se, as it is that I believe the risk is always greater for the institution than the coach. But in his case, while he has had coordinator positions at TX Tech and UK, I wonder how he will be able to move from a place like Troy to a place like WVU. He may be a perfect fit and when he has them in the playoffs in a few years you can remind me of that. But he may not be able to manage things at a place like WVU where the demands will be far greater than at Troy. To me the risk is simply more for WVU than it is for him.
    1. Terry Blue's Avatar
      Terry Blue -
      6 years, $19 million
    1. dan_bgblue's Avatar
      dan_bgblue -
      For that kind of money, he should be able to buy a couple of rural counties if he wants to. Many of them in the western part of the state require building a flat spot to stand on
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