On Tuesday, Rodriguez met with the media and took time to discuss the former coaching staff and give praise to former head coach Neal Brown.
Rodriguez was hired to be the next leader of the football program in Dec. after the team decided to move on from Neal Brown who held the position for the past six years. Brown in his six-year tenure led the Mountaineers to a 37-35 record and won two of the three bowl games his teams appeared in.
in 2024, the Mountaineers finished with a 6-7 record and Brown was fired before the team faced Memphis in the Scooters Coffee Frisco Bowl.
“Every coach is different, they had good coaches here, Neal Brown is a good football coach, you know sometimes things didn’t come together or you get a little unlucky or it didn’t click at times they wanted it to. Neal didn’t get to this level as a head coach not being a good coach, he’s a good football coach,” Rodriguez said.
Brown was faced with some challenging times at WVU like the integration of the transfer portal and NIL becoming part of the sport but also dealing with the COVID restrictions back in 2020. And dealing with the growing pains of adjusting to the new era of college football.
“I followed some really good coaches including Neal Brown,” Rodriguez said.
In 2025, Rodriguez returns to WVU for his second tenure and Neal Brown will be a part of the staff for Texas alongside Steve Sarkisian and Chad Scott, who was Browns running backs coach at WVU.
