It’s Official: West Virginia Football HC Neal Brown to Remain at WVU

Neal Brown will be back as head coach at West Virginia. A final decision has finally been made.

Rob Alsop, who was put in charge of WVU athletics on an interim basis after the university parted ways with Shane Lyons, released a statement, which confirmed reports, saying WVU still feels Brown should lead the football program and that he has already been in talks with newly hired athletic director Wren Baker.

“Over the past several weeks, President Gee and I have discussed the future of WVU Athletics and our football program with a number of individuals and talented athletic administrators from across the country. We were also impressed with the effort of our team the last few weeks. Additionally, we have also had discussions with Coach Brown and our new Director of Athletics, Wren Baker, about our next steps as a department. In fact, Wren and Coach Brown have already connected relating to the future of the program. As a result of all of these efforts and discussions, it is clear that Coach Brown should continue to lead our football program,” said Alsop.

He then continued. “With new energy that comes with new leadership, it is time to rally around Wren’s leadership as we move forward quickly to recruit more top student-athletes to our program and continue to develop the incredibly talented group of returning players who are an integral part of our Mountaineer family. I know that Wren will be focusing a lot his time and attention on how we improve our results on the football field and across a number of our programs. “I will continue to work with Wren, Neal, and the rest of our Athletics program to ensure a smooth transition to the next era for our Athletics Department. Let’s go!,” closes the statement.

Brown’s current contract runs through the end of the 2026 season. This deal was extended from its original deal by former WVU athletic director Shane Lyons in 2020.

Brown’s 22-25 overall record at WVU caused many to question if he should return as head coach and to wonder if the school would decide to move on from the 42-year-old. Despite the firing of Lyons and the hiring of Baker, Brown will get another shot, now with a new administration, to turn things around in 2023.

The short offseason schedule, other prominent coaches already being picked off and a strong incoming recruiting class are reasons provided in the reports leading up to this news as why Brown would likely remain at WVU.