Neal Brown said everybody in WVU’s program was pissed off as the intensity continues to pick up for the Mountaineers.
“I’m pissed, the kids are pissed, the whole coaches are pissed just because you’re doing the same thing over and over again,” Brown said.
Brown outlined the week ahead and along with the physical challenges on the field comes the mental challenges with the beginning of school on Wednesday and what is now a schedule change.
“They know like today, they’re here, they have a break in the afternoon, and they’re coming back in the evening. Tomorrow’s going to be the same, well Wednesday school starts. Then Thursday they’re going to get on their school routine.
“They know they’re here all day, tomorrow they know they’re here all day but they can see the light. All the students are coming back, we have fall fest on Tuesday night, and I’m sure I’m not that old so I can remember the first week of school. It’s a pretty good time.”
With the change of scenery in the back half of the week, comes an important job for Brown of keeping his team engaged and trying to use the tough week to get better.
“The job as a coach is when you know they’re starting to drift, you better be at your best. It’s about continuously challenging them to make sure we’re not getting through this but we’re getting better because of it. I just know it’s a critical week. It’s a critical week and we need to be hard on them and be tough on them and we need to get some calluses on them so we can be ready to go.”
This week for WVU will also be the last week until they start to switch into game mode for Penn State. To Brown thought focus right now is still on themselves.
“This is all about us,” Brown said. We’re really not talking to our players about Penn State, we’re not doing any Penn State prep. We’re trying to get our guys ready for the season this week… there’s a different cycle you go into next Monday and Tuesday.”
Brown said the increased intensity this week is vital because of playing No. 7 Penn State week one.
“The reason I’m intense today, the reason I’m going to be intense this week is we’re not easing into this. We’re not easing into this thing,” Brown said.
