West Virginia football coach Neal Brown deserves more respect nationally

West Virginia football has a phenomenal head coach in Neal Brown.

It is clearly working for West Virginia football in Neal Brown‘s second season in Morgantown as they have embraced the “Trust the Climb” mindset.

By handling the TCU Horned Frogs on Saturday afternoon, the West Virginia Mountaineers have improved to 5-3 on the season. The ‘Eers already have a huge upset win at home over the Kansas State Wildcats and nearly defeated the Texas Longhorns in Austin. Had they not handed points to the Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock, WVU could be as good as 7-1 this season.

Neal Brown is one of the better up-and-coming coaches in college football

In Brown’s first season leading the Mountaineers, West Virginia went 5-7 and narrowly missed a bowl game. Keep in mind 2019 was coming off the tail-end of the tumultuous Dana Holgorsen era in Morgantown. Brown cut his teeth leading the Troy Trojans in the Sun Belt prior to getting the coveted Power 5 gig at WVU. It was a huge step up for him, but he has certainly adjusted by 2020.

Not only does Brown have West Virginia contending for a top-25 spot in the middle of a global pandemic, but he and his staff had to part ways with defensive coordinator Vic Koenning during the offseason for making racist remarks to his players. Yet here we are talking about the great job Brown is doing in only his sixth year as a Division I head coach. He is just getting started at WVU.

Brown turned 40-years-old this year back in March. The Hal Mumme Air Raid disciple played his college ball for him at the University of Kentucky back in the late 1990s. He also served as Tommy Tuberville’s offensive coordinator in the early 2010s at Texas Tech. Despite his youth and unassuming appearance, Brown can flat-out coach. For that reason, he is poised for bigger things.

In Big 12 country, we give a lot of credit to the fine job Matt Campbell is doing at Iowa State, as well as what we have seen in a year and change out of Chris Klieman leading Kansas State. Though Brown will never be confused for Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma, it would not be shocking if Brown were to leave West Virginia for a top-15 job well before his 45th birthday.

If the Jeremy Pruitt era combusts in the next year or so with the Tennessee Volunteers, we have to believe Brown would be on the shortlist for that job. Should Gus Malzahn not pan out in the next year or so at Auburn, why would Brown not consider a return to the Yellowhammer State? Those are the next type of jobs Brown will be getting some time in 2022 or 2023. He will be ready then.

For now, we must respect that West Virginia has the next up-and-coming head coach in Brown.

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