West Virginia To Hire Troy’s Neal Brown As Head Coach

English: Neal Brown, head coach of the Troy Trojans football team, at the 2015 Sun Belt Conference Media Day in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. Date 20 July 2015 Source: Own work Author: Bobak Ha'Eri (Wikipedia Commons)

West Virginia will hire current Troy Head Coach Neal Brown to fill their vacancy. On Tuesday, Dana Holgerson announced that he was leaving West Virginia after eight years for a position at Houston.

Brown, 38, To Replace Dana Holgerson At WVU

Brown, 38, went 35–16 in four seasons with Troy and was named the Sun Belt Coach of the Year in 2017. Troy also won 10+ games in each of the last three seasons, making Brown one of only six FBS coaches to achieve this feat. On top of that, his resume includes bowl game victories in each of those years. In 2018, they’d upset Nebraska 24-19 and the year before, the Trojans beat No.25 LSU.

The 38-year old Brown’s hiring was first reported by Yahoo! Sports. He implemented the “air raid” offense, designed by Hal Mumme and Mike Leach. In Brown’s first season at Troy, the team would go 4-8. Since then, they have a combined 31-8 record. Brown played wide receiver at Kentucky in 1998 and 2000 and pulled in 10 career catches.

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Holgerson went 61-41 in his eight seasons at West Virginia. It should be noted that the last to leave the school, quarterback Geno Smith, fizzled out almost immediately. After being drafted no.39 by the New York Jets, he’d become a punchline in his first season, throwing for only 12 touchdowns along with 21 interceptions.

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Will Brown be a good fit for the Mountaineers? Only time will tell. One thing is certain: his experience thus far is definitely noteworthy.

Bill Piersa