Neal Brown Still Energized, Expects Head Coach Role in 2025

After being fired from WVU on Sunday, Neal Brown expects to be a head coach again next season.

Talking to Hoppy Kercheval on “MetroNews Talkline” Friday morning, Brown said that he not only wants to continue coaching, but that he expects to be a head coach somewhere in 2025.

“I want to coach, I think there are a lot of positives from a personal perspective and professionally,” Brown said. “And there are some really good jobs open. There are jobs that are resourced well in leagues that you can go win. My anticipation is that I will (be a head coach) but time will tell.”

Brown’s name has been brought up in several Group of Five coaching searches across the country since his firing and he said he’s ready to jump right back into another job.

“I’ve got a ton of energy,” Brown, 44, said. “I think the natural assumption sometimes once somebody is let go, is ‘they must be beat up.’ I’m not.”

Brown was very quickly linked to the open head coach jobs at Charlotte and Appalachian State, although it has been reported that he has already passed on the Charlotte job.

Charlotte fired second-year head coach Biff Pogi on Monday following a 6-16 tenure.

Appalachian State fired fifth-year head coach Shawn Clark on Monday after going 5-6 this season. Clark was 40-24 overall with the Mountaineers.

There was speculation that Brown would also be a candidate for the head coach job at UMass, his alma mater, but concrete reports of interest never materialized and the position has already been filled. UMass hired Rutgers defensive coordinator Joe Harasymiak on Wednesday.

Prior to coming to WVU, Brown went 35-16 over four seasons at Troy. The Trojans won double-digit games in each of Brown’s final three seasons.

For a related story, Neal Brown wasn’t surprised by firing, ‘not bitter’ about how WVU tenure ended.