FILE – West Virginia head coach Neal Brown will get holds the trophy after their win towards North Carolina in an NCAA faculty soccer sport on the Duke’s Mayo Bowl Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Picture/Chris Carlson, File)
Neal Brown’s time as West Virginia College’s soccer coach is formally over.
The college introduced Sunday afternoon that it had parted methods with Brown after six seasons, a choice that got here on the heels of a blowout loss to Texas Tech to finish the common season. The loss dropped WVU to 6-6 on the 12 months, the fifth time in Brown’s six seasons he completed with no higher than six wins within the common marketing campaign.
“Coach Brown is a superb individual, and he has served as an amazing ambassador for West Virginia College,” stated WVU Athletic Director Wren Baker in a college launch. “He led our storied program with class and integrity and at all times put within the onerous work mandatory to permit for achievement. We’re grateful to Neal, his spouse, Brooke, and their kids for his or her contributions to our college, group and state, and we want them the easiest of their subsequent endeavor.”
The dismissal will include a value to WVU. Based on his contract, Brown is owed 75% of the rest of his deal, which is estimated to be just below $10 million.
Brown got here to WVU after 4 very profitable seasons as head coach at Troy. He completed with not less than 10 wins in every of his final three seasons with the Trojans, with a trio of bowl victories. That included wins at No. 25 LSU in 2017 and at Nebraska in 2018.
He got here to WVU hoping to match that success within the Large 12, but it surely by no means occurred. The Mountaineers hovered round common for almost all of his tenure. He beat solely three nationally ranked groups in 72 video games with WVU, and none of these three completed the season within the High 25.
The High 25 proved elusive for the Mountaineers on the similar time. Solely three Energy 4 convention groups haven’t been ranked within the Related Press sportswriters High 25 since 2019 – Texas Tech, Rutgers and WVU. WVU completed ranked No. 25 within the coaches ballot simply as soon as, after a 9-4 end and a Duke’s Mayo Bowl win in 2023.
That end gave WVU and its followers optimism for the 2024 marketing campaign. A large chunk of his gamers had been returning, together with quarterback Garrett Greene and defensive lineman Sean Martin. Gamers and coaches talked about contending for the Large 12 title, particularly after Oklahoma and Texas, the titans of the convention’s earlier iteration, had left for the SEC.
The fanbase was hungry for the workforce to achieve a brand new plateau, placing greater than 62,000 into Milan Puskar Stadium for WVU’s season opener versus Penn State. The Nittany Lions pummeled West Virginia in that sport 34-12. West Virginia went 0-2 in rivalry video games, blowing a 10-point lead within the sport’s final 4:55 in a 38-24 loss. One other low got here in back-to-back nationally televised evening video games towards ranked convention foes. WVU misplaced to Iowa State 28-16 and Kansas State 45-18 in these contests.
Defensive struggles grew to become a theme for WVU this season, because the Mountaineers ranked close to the underside of the Soccer Bowl Subdivision in a number of key defensive classes. WVU gave up not less than 45 factors thrice in 2024, all from Oct. 19 on. In an try and reverse these fortunes, Brown fired defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley on Oct. 29, selling linebackers coach Jeff Koonz to the position.
It didn’t assist. West Virginia’s protection hit backside in a 52-15 loss at Texas Tech the place the Mountaineers trailed 35-3 at halftime and 42-3 after the primary drive of the second half. WVU had allowed 49 factors in a house loss to Baylor two video games earlier than.
Brown completed 37-35 total at West Virginia, together with 25-28 within the Large 12. His groups have reached 4 bowl video games within the six seasons, together with this season and a bowl sport that gained’t be decided till Sunday. An interim head coach has not but been named for that bowl. The Mountaineers gained the Liberty and Duke’s Mayo bowls on Brown’s watch.
Now the college will flip to hiring its subsequent head coach.
“We’ll maintain our give attention to the unimaginable younger males in our program and making ready for our bowl sport,” Baker stated. “Our nationwide seek for WVU’s thirty sixth head soccer coach is already underway. I’m assured that with the sturdy alignment among the many college management, our passionate supporters, our proud historical past and our willingness to speculate, we may have an impressive pool of candidates.”
Among the many names bandied about by pundits is Clarksburg native Jimbo Fisher, who gained a nationwide title at Florida State, however was fired from Texas A&M after an uneven tenure there. One other is former WVU coach Wealthy Rodriguez, who led the Mountaineers to a few of its biggest victories within the early 2000s, however had an acrimonious breakup after he left for Michigan’s head teaching job in 2007. Rodriguez lasted simply three seasons with the Wolverines, then spent six seasons at Arizona earlier than being fired there.
Rodriguez has spent the final three seasons as head coach at Jacksonville State, the place he has gone 26-9 and led a profitable transition from the Soccer Championship Subdivision to Convention USA. JSU will host the C-USA championship sport this week.
Brown himself already has been related to a different head teaching job, at his alma mater Massachusetts, which lately fired coach Don Brown.