West Virginia’s name-brand Neal Brown replacement is willing to ‘come home’

At 4-4, how the final four games of the regular season go for West Virginia could decide Neal Brown's fate. Brown has had an up-and-down tenure leading the Mountaineers. While he looked like a goner two years ago after his former boss Shane Lyons was fired, Brown somehow survived year one working for a new athletic director in Wren Baker, who came over from North Texas to replace Lyons.

While I wrote about how Texas A&M offensive coordinator Collin Klein could be an ideal fit to replace Brown, that may have been a bit premature. Then again, so would the nature of firing Brown at this time, simply to hire the big name out there with strong West Virginia ties. Yes, I am talking about Clarksburg native and former Texas A&M and Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher taking over.

On a recent episode of Couz's Corner, host Justin "Couz" Walker, who covers West Virginia sports extensively, shared with his YouTube viewers some precious intel on the WVU coaching situation. He divulged that if West Virginia were to move on from Brown that Fisher would be "highly interested" in taking over the Mountaineers program. Fisher seems like he is ready to come home to West Virginia.

Here is the entire episode of Couz's Corner where Fisher coming to Morgantown was discussed.

While West Virginia is not dripping in money, keep in mind that Texas A&M is paying Fisher a fortune...

West Virginia football rumors: Jimbo Fisher would take Mountaineers job

We are nearly 20 years removed from the most recent peak of West Virginia football. Rich Rodriguez took the Mountaineers to new heights in the early-to-mid 2000s with the help of Pat White, Steve Slaton, Owen Schmitt and Pat McAfee. While WVU has had its moments in the two decades since, conference realignment hurt the team considerably going from the old Big East to a newer Big 12.

That always put WVU behind the eight ball, while it served fellow 2012 Big 12 entrant TCU. The Horned Frogs leveled up leaving the Mountain West for the Big 12, while West Virginia was at a geographical disadvantage after its former conference fell apart. Now that the Big 12 has reshuffled a bit with eight new schools coming in over the last two years, there are no excuses for being so mediocre.

Brown is a good coach, but he may have benefited from winning at a very winnable place previously at Troy. Jon Sumrall won there after him and Larry Blakeney was a legendary presence before him. While I would argue that Brown is a Power Four head coach, West Virginia needs to split its final four games to achieve bowl eligibility for Baker to have any reason to give him another year on the job.

As far as if Fisher would work in West Virginia, he might. He has shown an ability to recruit at a high level, although that may have more to do with the schools he worked at. While the coming home narrative feels authentic, it could also be fabricated. Regardless, West Virginia may need to hit the reset button because things have grown stale under Brown. Besides, Fisher could land elsewhere.

Should Dave Aranda or Sonny Dykes falter, I think Baylor and TCU would look hard at Fisher as well...