Heading into the 2023 college football season, head coaches such as Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M Aggies), Steve Sarkisian (Texas Longhorns), and Brent Venables (Oklahoma Sooners) will remain at the top of the list.
Out in Morgantown, West Virginia, another head coach is going to be facing the heat in the upcoming campaign. Neal Brown was rumored to be on the chopping block after finishing 5-7, which was good enough for a tie at No. 7 in the Big 12. In four seasons at the helm, the Mountaineers’ head coach has finished with seven losses three times.
The lone winning season came in the pandemic-shortened campaign of 2020. The team finished 6-4 with a win over the Army Black Knights, 24-21. Brown is 57-41 as a head coach in eight seasons but just 22-25 and 14-21 in Big 12 play at West Virginia.
When it comes to coaches needing a big season, CBS Sports’ Barrett Salee included Brown along with Jimbo, Sark, and Venables on his list of seven head coaches that have the most pressure in 2023.
Brown was in danger of being canned after last season, but the new administration decided to keep him on board for a sixth season at West Virginia. Back-to-back sub-.500 seasons have made Mountaineer fans restless, and the fact that Brown hasn’t been in the Big 12 title race in any of his five seasons has made things even worse. The Mountaineers have fallen behind in the NIL age, and Brown hasn’t taken advantage of the transfer portal in a way that will keep them relevant — even in the new era of Big 12 football. – Salee
Brown was at the top of our list in the way-too-early hot seat rankings. It is ‘put up or shut up’ time for Brown and the Mountaineers in the 2023 season. The schedule isn’t doing WVU any favors this year either as the team will kick off the season against Penn State at Beaver Stadium on Sept. 2. Two weeks later they will face Pitt in the ‘Back Yard Brawl’ before hosting Texas Tech to kick off conference play on Sept. 23.