On Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval, West Virginia football head coach Neal Brown spoke of his job security and aspirations for the future.
On WVMetroNews’ Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval, Brown spoke about how he views his future with the Mountaineers.
“I’m in regular contact with Wren (Baker), I got a contract. I don’t think we necessarily have to talk every single day. I have a really good relationship with him. I have a really good relationship with Dr.Gee and I feel confident in what we’re building and the strides we made. We got to continue to get better,” Brown said when asked if he expects to be the Mountaineers coach next season.
“I’m very confident in our growth of our program and where we’re going and yes I do expect to be here. My family and I (have) enjoyed our time in West Virginia and we want to see this through.”
Brown’s contract lasts till 2026 and he’s expected to make over $4 million annually for the next three seasons.
“I thought that last year we underperformed and there were some mistakes that I made, that we went back and corrected. I think that any time things don’t always go the way you want them to go, you always have to look inwardly. And we made some necessary changes and had some improvements because of that,” Brown said.
West Virginia’s 8-4 record in 2023 proves a quick turnaround compared to 2022’s 5-7 record.
The Mountaineers will look to secure a bowl win, get to nine wins but will need to recruit and retain players for the future.
“You got to retain. And so we’re in the season of recruiting and retaining right now and that’s going to be vital,” Brown said. “I believe we have the resources to do that we just got to go out and execute it.”
In today’s college football, NIL money plays a huge role and can affect a player’s decision when choosing to commit or transfer to a school.
“Let’s not ignore the fact it matters, like it matters and that’s fair, so we got to continue to grow the trust. I feel confident in where we’re at, we’ve made a ton of progress,” Brown said. “But by no means (have we) achieved what we’ve wanted to achieve on the field or in the NIL game in any of those areas but we’ve made really good progress. I do believe that we have the resources necessary to retain the majority of our roster.”
Brown will look to replicate the success of this season next year and build off of it while bolstering his roster but first has a bowl game to worry about soon approaching.
