A few days after firing Neal Brown, West Virginia athletic director Wren Baker met with the media to discuss his decision to move on from Brown and how the coaching search is going to this point.
Brown served as the Mountaineers’ head coach from 2019 to 2024, putting together a 37-35 overall record and leading WVU to four bowl appearances in six seasons.
After getting to six wins in 2024, it appeared that Brown might be able to survive the season with another bowl victory. However, Baker explains that the 52-15 loss to Texas Tech was just too much for the program to stomach.
“Saturday night into Sunday,” Baker said when asked when he decided to fire Brown. ” I know that there are people that will say that I had to know before then, but I think it’s important that you keep your mind open and let every data point arrive.”
It wasn’t an easy decision to make, either, as Brown is beloved by those who work closely with him and has a great deal of respect from those in his profession.
“It’s been a difficult couple of days around the football facilities, and it was a difficult decision. I have so much respect for Neal. The class and integrity he showed was incredible. I met with Coach Brown on Sunday for lunch, and I told him what we were going to do moving forward. Neal then met with the team yesterday, and he called some of the recruits to keep the team together moving forward.”
As for the coaching search, Baker said there is “no timeline” for when the Mountaineers will name Neal’s replacement.
“There is no set timeline for the search,” Baker said. “There are candidates that are still playing in the Conference Championships and I want to respect that. It is important that we have a leader and not just a coach. We are going to hire someone with integrity. That is a nonnegotiable.”
West Virginia was mathematically in contention for a Big 12 Title appearance going into the weekend, but ended the year tied for eighth with a 5-4 record in conference play.
The Mountaineers will learn where they’re headed for bowl season on Sunday, but are being heavily projected to land in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana on December 29th.
