Neal Brown's Stubborn Streak: How a Refusal to Make Changes Hinders West Virginia football

By everything we can tell, West Virginia head coach Neal Brown seems to be a stand-up guy.

He certainly seems to cultivate a positive player culture in the locker room, with little in the way of off-field controversy arising during his tenure, and the few issues that have being dealt with in a swift and smart manner.

As a native son of Appalachia born deep within Eastern Kentucky, he definitely appears to understand and appreciate the culture of the state of West Virginia -- the only state residing completely within the Appalachians.

However, his ability to win big games on the field has yet to show itself consistently after five-and-a-half seasons at the helm, and his relationship with the fanbase is tenuous at best right now.

There are a number of things that could be analyzed in-depth about Brown's tenure in Morgantown and how it has affected his ability to produce a competitive product. But after last week's loss to now-No. 9 Iowa State, one thing that struck me is that Brown is often too stubborn when it comes to admitting failure and making changes -- and it is a character flaw that has proven a detriment to the Mountaineers and Brown's potential as a power conference coach at the FBS level.

The reason why this has been at the forefront of my thought process following the Iowa State loss is because that game served as a microcosm of Brown's greater inability to pivot away from bad decisions while leading WVU. To start, we can take a look at center Brandon Yates.

Yates has been a starter along the offensive line for the Mountaineers for multiple years now, and was the choice to inherit the starting center role when current Pittsburgh Steeler Zach Frazier headed off to the NFL following last season. Yates has done pretty well filling in this season, which is why it shocked fans when Yates has numerous errant snaps against the Cyclones.

Those snaps didn't result in any turnovers, but did result in a number of negative plays that crushed the momentum of multiple drives. Following the game, Brown told reporters that Yates had been struggling with a hand injury all week that had been causing issues. But when asked if he had considered starting the second-stringer Landen Livingston, who the staff has previously been high on, Brown gave a questionable answer.

"Whether we should have or shouldn't have is probably up for discussion," Brown said. [Yates] is our starting center, and he's going to be our starting center this year. Landon [Livingston] has got a bright future, but [Yates] is clearly our best option right there, and because we're right here right in the middle of the season i didn't think that was the right move from a confidence standpoint. That's why we decided to stick with him."

Then you also have the case of Garrett Greene. The starting quarterback for the Mountaineers tossed back-to-back interceptions in the second half against Iowa State that resulted in back-to-back touchdowns, swinging WVU's deficit from 4 points before the first pick to 18 points after the second pick. That first turnover came as WVU was in Iowa State territory amidst a drive that had already spanned 6 plays, 57 yards, and over 3 minutes of action.

While Greene is a gutsy player, an incredible locker room leader, and has proven the spark in numerous wins for WVU, there is no arguing that his decisions played a large role in this particular loss. He has also played about the same if not slightly worse than he did in 2023, when developing Greene as a passer was consider a major focal point of the offseason -- and Greene was hyped coming into the season as having made those strides.

So reporters also asked Brown if he considered making a switch to backup Nicco Marchiol late in the game to find a spark, especially when a 28-10 deficit with just over 4 minutes to play meant the game was all but lost and Marchiol had delivered an exceptional performance in relief of a Greene injury the week prior.

"Why would we do that -- do you think we needed [a spark]," Brown retorted to the question.

These two decisions show a lack of seriousness from Brown when it comes to owning up to the wrong choice and making game time adjustments that can be the difference between wins and losses against power conference opponents.

When your quarterback didn't develop as promised in the areas promised over an offseason, spends the first portion season playing a mediocre brand of football, and then costs you an important conference game in the second half, you have to consider a quarterback change. Especially when the backup's first pass the previous week was a touchdown across the middle with some serious zip on the ball -- the type of throw Greene has been hard-pressed to make. I wish Greene nothing but the best, but it's not a personal decision. It's a business decision in a job where you're in the business of winning football games.

The same can be said of the decision with Yates. When your center is botching snaps that are stopping drives dead in their tracks, you take him out. If you consider his blocking and leadership enough of an asset to keep him on the field, you slide him to guard (where he is experienced) and move someone else out of the rotation. But you don't keep him in the game, risking further damage to the hand of your starter and allowing for more miscues to potentially ruin your shot at a win. Once again, I wish Yates the best, but it's business, not personal.

Even worse in this scenario, it's an issue that had already arisen during the week, and an issue that arose early in the game with plenty of time to make a fix. Yet Brown repeatedly ignored opportunities to address the problem when it arose, and allowed it to continue to hamper his team's opportunity at a crucial win.

But this is not the first example of Neal Brown's stubborn decision making harming WVU football during his tenure. It was clear to many WVU fans halfway through the 2020 season that Jarrett Doege, Brown's new starting quarterback, was just an average passer at best. Sure, he was good for a special game on occassion, but overall, he didn't seem to have what it took to lead a Big 12 team.

Not only did Brown allow Doege to finish one full season that was clouded with questions about his skill set, but double down for a second full season -- those two seasons ended in a a combined 12-11 record with a Liberty Bowl win over a service academy program and a Guaranteed Rate Bowl loss to a Big 10 opponent to show for the committment to Doege.

The following season, highly touted transfer quarterback JT Daniels showed early in the season he didn't quite still have the juice that earned him his initial five-star ranking out of high school. Not only that, but it appeared with each hit Daniels took that the injury issues that contributed to his fall from prominent prospect to average college player were still a major problem. However, it took until the team was 3-6 in November and Daniels tossed an early interception against Oklahoma for Brown to put Greene -- then the backup -- in as the primary signal caller. The Mountaineers beat Oklahoma and finished 2-1 in their final three games, but failed to go bowling.

It's not hard to see that confronting his own wrong choices and shifting gears is not necessarily a strong suit for Brown. But unfortunately, that is something that is required to be successful in the position that he currently holds. And after almost six seasons and a middling track record against ranked opponents, you have to start to wonder if that stubborn streak might prevent Brown from ever finding the type of success in Morgantown that Mountaineer Nation expects.