West Virginia is paying Neal Brown $650,000 less than it was scheduled to pay Dana Holgorsen had he returned for a ninth season in 2019, but all told the Mountaineers will likely spend more on football in '19 than they did in 2018.
According to the Morgantown News, Brown has beefed up WVU's off-the-field staff considerably.
The recruiting department has moved from two full-time employees and two part-timers to six full-timers:
- Director of player personnel Brian Bennett
- Offensive recruiting coordinator Scott Gasper
- Defensive recruiting coordinator Casey Smithson (the lone holdover from the Holgorsen recruiting staff)
- On-campus recruiting coordinator Katie Guisto
- Director of creative video Austin Gaines
- Director of creative design Jordan Herald
Brown retained Holgorsen's two analysts (Ryan Nehlen, offense; Casey Vance, defense) and added two more -- Tyler Hancock, special teams; Robby Brown, senior analyst and special assistant to the head coach.
Additionally, Brown has increased the operations department from two to three:
- Associate AD for football external affairs Coleman Barnes
- Director of football operations/internal affairs Patrick Johnson
- Director of player and alumni relations Will Johnson
All told, the recruiting, analyst and operations wing of the West Virginia football program has grown from six full-time employees to 13, bringing the total number of football employees under Brown's employ to 49.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.