The West Virginia job is open. Neal Brown was fired Sunday, one day after a 52-15 loss to Texas Tech to finish the regular season at 6-6.
Brown went 37-35 in six seasons. The highlight was a 9-4 record in 2023 and four bowl-eligible seasons in six years. But Brown won more than six games just once. He went 31-8 in his final three years as Troy head coach but couldn’t find the same high-level success in Morgantown.
So how good is the West Virginia job? What names could get in the mix? Based on conversations with industry sources, here is a breakdown of the job and the potential names to watch.
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Recent history/tradition: B+
Making bowl games is the norm for this program, having missed out just four times since 2002. There’s a general consistency that goes back to the 1980s, with six conference championships since 2003 and three BCS bowls since 2005. The fans expect success and typically get at least some of it.
But the ceiling isn’t what it once was. West Virginia finished the 2018 season ranked No. 18, and it hasn’t been ranked since then. It’s just one of three Power 4 programs not to reach the Top 25 in that period, along with Texas Tech and Rutgers. The program has clearly slipped, and something needed to change.
On-field outlook: B
The Mountaineers are 11th in the Big 12 in scoring offense and 13th in scoring defense this season. That offense was powered by a rushing game that finished 48th in the FBS in yards per carry. Sophomore running back Jahiem White was a bright spot with 817 rushing yards and seven touchdowns, and junior back CJ Donaldson Jr. had 651 yards and nine touchdowns. But dual-threat quarterback Garrett Greene is set to graduate, as is talented defensive lineman TJ Jackson II, who has 6.5 sacks.
West Virginia is 10th in the Big 12 in 247Sports’ Team Talent rankings, 54th nationally. There are some building block pieces here, especially in the run game, but it’s so hard to predict who will stay on the roster amid a coaching change. There isn’t much of a local recruiting base, and when West Virginia has had its most success, it’s often come from finding good players out of Florida.
Money matters: B
West Virginia found itself in a rare spot six years ago as a Power 5 school that saw its head coach leave for a Group of 5 job when Dana Holgorsen went to Houston (which is now a Big 12 member). It happened for a few reasons, including stagnating on-field performance and stalled contract negotiations. Brown’s $4 million salary in 2024 was near the bottom of the Big 12 but not too far from the upper half. The buyout is around $9 million, but it can be partially offset if and when Brown takes another coaching job. West Virginia was near the bottom of the Big 12 in football spending in 2022, according to Sportico’s database, but post-realignment, the Mountaineers are a bit closer to the middle of the pack.
West Virginia is in decent shape in name, image and likeness support through its Country Roads Trust collective. The program landed quarterback JT Daniels when he left Georgia, though Daniels left after one season. Athletic director Wren Baker has said West Virginia plans to fully spend to the cap on revenue sharing in the wake of the House v. NCAA settlement.
University stability: D+
The university itself has struggled mightily in recent years. Enrollment continues to decline, dropping below 25,000 this fall. Last year, the school cut more than 140 faculty jobs and 28 majors due to a multimillion-dollar deficit. The hope is things will stabilize in 2025. Much of this decline has come under president E. Gordon Gee, who plans to retire when his contract expires next June. Multiple school assemblies passed symbolic votes of no confidence in Gee amid last year’s cuts. The expectation is that a new president will be named next spring.
Baker arrived as athletic director in late 2022 from North Texas to replace Shane Lyons amid athletic budget issues and football struggles. While Baker has worked to increase revenue streams, he’s now tasked with finding a coach who can take the football program to a higher level.
Coach pool: A-
Will Jacksonville State head Rich Rodriguez get in the mix? The native son and alumnus went 60-26 as WVU head coach from 2001 to ‘07 with three top-five finishes, coming one win away from a BCS national championship appearance in 2007. His departure from the school to Michigan produced a messy legal fight, and he was fired after three years in Ann Arbor. He took Arizona to five bowls in six years from 2012 to ’17, including a Fiesta Bowl, before he was fired for off-field personal conduct allegations that left administrators “concerned with the direction and climate of the football program” (a lawsuit by a former administrative assistant was dismissed). He’s now 26-10 in three seasons at Jax State, including 17-8 since moving up to the FBS, and led the Gamecocks to this year’s Conference USA championship game. He continues to win almost everywhere, and he’s still got a lot of powerful friends in the state.
Western Kentucky head coach Tyson Helton continues to win despite losing coaches and players to bigger schools. He’s 48-30 and has won at least eight games five times in six seasons while seeing offensive coordinators like Zach Kittley and Ben Arbuckle turn success into higher level jobs. The Hilltoppers will play for the Conference USA championship this weekend, and Helton could be in the mix at North Carolina and Purdue as well.
Ohio head coach Tim Albin has been in the mix for a few jobs in recent years and is another coach winning big despite program turnover. He took over from Frank Solich right before the 2021 season and is 29-10 over the last three years. The Bobcats this week will try to win their first MAC championship since 1968, and their 9-3 record this season has come despite losing quarterback Kurtis Rourke to Indiana and losing leading rusher Sieh Bangura to Minnesota last offseason. Athens, Ohio, is also not far from the West Virginia border. He knows the area.
Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell is 42-10 as a head coach since 2020, winning at least 11 games three times across stints at Coastal Carolina and Liberty, including a Fiesta Bowl appearance last year. The East Tennessee native has won big everywhere he’s been and runs an exciting offense. His lack of Power 4 experience has hurt his candidacy for some SEC jobs, but he has shown he can do more with less at Coastal. The resources at Liberty dwarf its peers, and his salary is already believed to be around $4 million. He can afford to be choosy. But star quarterback Kaidon Salter just entered the transfer portal, and Liberty has lost some key players to the portal in recent years. Will that impact his thought process?
UNLV head coach Barry Odom is 19-7 in two seasons with the Rebels, the best run for the program in half a century. They hadn’t won more than eight games in a season in 40 years. Odom has made smart staff hires, especially on offense, and improved from his 25-25 run as Missouri head coach. He’s got a conference championship to play in this weekend, and a College Football Playoff game after that if the Rebels win.
Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki has produced an offense that led its conference in yards per play for three consecutive seasons, two at Kansas and one at Penn State. The Minnesota native knows the Midwest, and he could get West Virginia back to its fun offensive football roots. But he’s also got a conference championship game and CFP game to coach in.
Penn State co-offensive coordinator Ja’Juan Seider is a former West Virginia player and spent seven years on staff. The Florida native recruits the Sunshine State very well, and that’s where WVU has gotten some of its best players. He knows the area and has some local support. Again, the Big Ten Championship Game and CFP are still to come for Penn State.
Memphis head coach Ryan Silverfield has continued a solid run of success since taking over after Mike Norvell. Silverfield is 41-21 in five seasons, with five bowl games and the first run of consecutive 10-win seasons in program history these past two years. He hasn’t gotten over the top with an AAC Championship Game appearance, but the Tigers have had an electric offense and done well in the transfer portal.
Army head coach Jeff Monken was in the mix for the Illinois and Kansas jobs in recent years. He’s got Army at 10-1 this season, playing for the AAC championship in the Black Knights’ first year in the conference, and he’s won at least nine games five times since 2017 after taking over a moribund program. Monken has also made it known he doesn’t have to run a triple-option offense at another job, and Ken Niumatalolo’s success at San Jose State this year could help the perception of service academy coaches.
Could former Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher return here? The West Virginia native has a tangential history with the program through his relationship with the Bowden family. He played quarterback under Terry Bowden, son of legendary former WVU and Florida State coach Bobby Bowden. Fisher won a national championship at FSU, part of an 83-23 record there. He went 45-25 in six years at Texas A&M and signed a No. 1 recruiting class, but he never won more than nine games and flamed out to the tune of a record $77.5 million buyout. He’s 59 years old and has stayed largely out of the public eye for the past year, and West Virginia doesn’t have the resources of his last two jobs. Would he even want to get back in?
Overall grade: B
The floor is high here, but the ceiling hasn’t been, from the recruiting base to financial resources. There is deep fan support and a proud history here, but can reality line up to expectations? Or can a new coach change that reality and bring back the high-level success of the old days? The headwinds are difficult.
(Photo: Ryan Hunt / Getty Images)
