New AD Baker expected to retain Brown for 2023

West Virginia has made a decision on their new Athletic Director and with that comes a decision on the future of head football coach Neal Brown.

According to Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated, West Virginia is hiring Wren Baker as their new Director of Athletics. Baker has served in the same role at University of North Texas, and he has reportedly made a decision on Brown.

Brown is 22-25 through his first four seasons as the head coach of West Virginia, with his only winning season coming in 2020 during a shortened season due to COVID-19, where the Mountianeers finished 6-4.

This season, Brown and the Mountaineers went 5-7, with wins over Virginia Tech, Baylor, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State.

Brown’s future with West Virginia has been in question, but according to Dellenger, Baker is going to stick with Brown for at least one more season.

“While new AD Wren Baker will evaluate coach Neal Brown, the expectation is that evaluation will come over the next year instead of a matter of days,” Dellenger said. “The expectation is that Brown will remain as coach in 2023.”

Brown’s success was one of the driving reasons West Virginia University moved on from previous Athletic Director Shane Lyons earlier this month. Lyons gave Brown a contract extension following the 2020 season, and he wanted to keep Brown as the head coach despite his lack of major success.

If Brown is set to return, the attention turns to the looming transfer portal window, and then to Early National Signing Day later this month.