There is a saying (often credited to Mark Twain), “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” For WVU fans, the Baylor game was an all-too-familiar story that rhymed with several other games. Leading up to the game, there was optimism: WVU had a two game winning streak, and even had an outside shot at sneaking into the Big 12 Championship game. The game would be in Morgantown, and fans were eager to see a Mountaineer win that could raise them up a level in the college football tier list.
Instead, WVU fans saw a defense that was largely ineffective, and an offense that could show flashes of brilliance, but too often shot themselves in the foot. A disappointing loss following a win featuring inept defense and unforced errors on offense could describe the season opener against Penn State (WVU had won its bowl game last year), Pitt, Iowa State, and now Baylor. I can throw in the Kansas State game, because people were hoping for a bounce back, but WVU fell flat on their face again.
WVU’s woes have been particularly painful at home. Not including Albany, WVU is 1-4 in home games this fall. Each of the losses has been by double digits (22, 12, 27, 14 points). The Iowa State (28-16) and Baylor (49-35) games each had late touchdowns by WVU that made the final margin look a little better, but WVU has trailed by 18 or more points with two minutes left in the game in all four losses.
No fans are happy. Some are frustrated, and even worse, some are apathetic. Once again, the status of Neal Brown is up for debate. This is where things get complicated. In his defense, Brown seems to do a lot of things right. His players to seem to play hard for him, there isn’t concern about rule-breaking by the program, and the players don’t have legal issues like you sometimes see with other teams. But this hasn’t translated to much success on the field. If WVU were flush with cash, I’d expect them to tell him, “Thanks, but we are moving in a different direction.”
But WVU is not flush with cash. The Mountaineers would owe Brown 75% of his remaining contract if he were fired. That works to around $9.5 million over the next three years (plus whatever is left in 2024). Now it appears that the money would be paid out over those years, and there would be an offset if he took another coaching job (meaning WVU would not have to pay as much). It could be possible that Brown would be interested in a lump sum that would be paid out at once, or at least a much quicker time period, but that figure is tough to speculate about. WVU would also be on the hook for assistant coach buyouts if they were not retained. And don’t forget, there would be a new coach to hire, and you would probably have to spend at least $3 million for him, not including the new staff.
West Virginia might be able to afford to fire Neal Brown and pay whatever buyouts are necessary. But that will leave them with precious little cash to afford a new coach and staff. If you don’t have enough money, you might get find yourself in an even worse situation – a school typically doesn’t want to fire one coach and replace them with a worse coach. Obviously, raising money will be a must, but if WVU moves on from Neal Brown, it is critical that he nails the hire.
There is still football to be played, and this week WVU hosts UCF. The Golden Knights lead the Big 12 in rushing and feature RJ Harvey, the leading rusher in the Big 12. UCF started the season with KJ Jefferson at QB, but he was replaced by Jacurri Brown, who had more success initially. Both Jefferson and
Brown were better runners than passers. But with UCF trailing BYU by 21 a couple of weeks ago, Brown was benched in favor of Dylan Rizk. UCF immediately improved on offense, and a big part of that is that Rizk is a much better passer. That is not good news for the WVU defense, and it looks like WVU’s offense will have to win a shootout on Saturday.
Notes: Kickoff for the UCF game is at 3:30 and it will be on ESPNU. It is a “True Blue” game so fans are encouraged to wear blue for the game…The men’s basketball team had a night to forget against Pitt. They never got going, and lost 86-62 to fall to 2-1 on the season. They host Iona tonight (Wednesday 11/20, 7:00, ESPN Plus) and head to the Bahamas for a Thanksgiving tournament next week…The women’s team, however, continues to roll. They blew out Pitt (82-54) and Texas A&M (83-62). Congrats to the men’s soccer team, who beat Marshall in penalty kicks to win the Sun Belt Conference tournament. The NCAA bracket was announced Monday, but WVU would be expected to host games this Thursday and Sunday at least…The women’s team face their region’s 5-seed Kentucky, and it was a 1-1 tie that ended up going to penalty kicks. Unfortunately, WVU lost, but this was a good bounceback season after a disappointing one last year.
