a year ago West Virginia Head coach Neal Brown worked his way off the hot seat with a nine-win season and a fourth-place finish in the Big 12. In the offseason, he was rewarded with an extension, but took a pay cut and was a restructuring of its acquisition.

Eight games into the 2024 season and questions about his job have arisen once again.

Towards the end of the 2022 season, it felt like Brown was a dead man walking in many ways. The team was struggling, in some cases not even looking competitive, and a new athletic director (Wren Baker) was in place. Because of the timing of Baker’s arrival, he felt he needed time to assess the situation both on the field and outside of the football program before making major changes.

It feels a little different this time, doesn’t it?

Frustration was at an all-time high among fans. It starts with the completely underwhelming on-field product for the talent returning from a nine-win team.

It started with the Mountaineers looking flat against Penn State in the season opener, a game that was billed as the biggest home opener in over 20 years. Then you blow a 10-point lead late to Pitt, who had everyone in their arms.

Despite that, WVU is off to a 2-0 start in Big 12 play and has had two big games at home to really put itself in the conference title chase.

Once again, the big stage seemed to be too much as the Mountaineers dropped both games in convincing fashion, bringing Neal Brown’s record against WVU’s first 25 opponents to 3-17.

As if the losses weren’t enough, Brown really lost a lot of people with his comments about the Iowa State game, asking fans if they had fun and encouraging them to come back for the K-State game.

Was it taken out of context? I don’t know. But the truth is, it was a poorly worded response, and the moment those words left his mouth, you knew it was going to be a long week. It’s something that isn’t going away anytime soon.

Then, in just the last few days, an online group called “The Wolfpack” purchased several billboards around Morgantown that read “Fire Neal Brown,” taking the frustration to a whole new level. A significant portion of the fan base thinks this is going a bit too far, but regardless of what you think, it just shows how “done” many people are with Brown and this regime.

And in all honesty, can you blame them? The man is 35-33 and in danger of recording his fourth losing season in six years. At some point you have to win football games and win them against people who matter. You can’t afford to blow games against your rivals and you can’t just beat teams with losing records. To be taken seriously, you have to beat quality people.

So can Neal Brown save his job again?

Yes, it certainly can, but that doesn’t mean it will. The outside noise is intensifying and putting more and more pressure on Baker and the administration to make a change. Unless the Mountaineers go 3-1 or better in these final four games, Brown, Baker and everyone else will continue to hear that from fans.

As I’ve stated many times before, buying for the head coach isn’t the only issue. You’re going to pay for Brown and his entire staff to leave, plus hire a new head coach and entire coaching staff. It’s a big bill. However, a university cannot be afraid to make a change because of this cost. Winning football games increases ticket sales, merchandise and even school enrollment, believe it or not. All of these things can help offset this change to some extent.

The last thing management can do is send a message that they accept these types of results on the football pitch. You can’t have one of the most expensive game experiences in college football and ask fans to keep donating money to the Country Roads Trust and expect them to settle for a .500 annual football team. That won’t cut it.

Now, in terms of what might happen on the field… that’s a whole different dynamic. Let’s talk about that for a minute.

Brown made the decision to fire defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley. Reread that sentence because it is very important to remember.

If the defense doesn’t improve over the next four games, who does it fall to? Is it Jeff Koonz or Neal Brown? This is an easy question; it’s Brown. By making this change, and making it now, Brown apparently believes it will help them win more games in November. If not, how does that lead to him returning as a head coach in 2025?

This is exactly why I don’t buy the idea that firing Lesley gives Neal more time. What TO to buy him more time, hypothetically speaking, is to make a quarterback change. Garrett Greene is getting hit, and while it’s still early, his status for the Cincinnati game doesn’t sound all that encouraging.

Nicco Marchiol had an effective game last week in Arizona and proved to be more than capable of getting the job done. On paper, the program looks much easier than anything the climbers have been through up to this point. Brown could choose to turn the offense over to Marchiol to give him a run in 2025, just as he did with Greene at the end of the 2022 season when he took over for JT Daniels.

If this trade goes through and Marchiol looks legit and you win a few games to end the season…that, my friends, is what gets Neal Brown more time.

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