With a 22-25 record in Morgantown heading into year five, it's no secret that Neal Brown is entering a critical season at the helm of the West Virginia program.
The Mountaineers lost offensive coordinator Graham Harrell after one season, as he left to become the offensive coordinator at Purdue, and while a 5-7 record was a disappointing finish to last fall the offense under Harrell was the highest scoring unit the school has had during Brown's tenure.
For his first three seasons at the helm at West Virginia, Brown called the offense in addition to his duties as head coach. During that stretch, from a points per game perspective, with Brown calling the offense was in 2020 when they finished 82nd nationally with about 27 points per game.
Last year, under Harrell, the offense ranked 49th nationally with about 30 points per game.
Continuity in their play caller would have brought some excitement to Morgantown heading into this fall, but after losing Harrell to the Boilermakers, Brown promoted running backs coach Chad Scott to the offensive coordinator role, and moved Sean Reagan back to quarterbacks after he spent last fall coaching the tight ends, and added the pass game coordinator title.
Scott has been at West Virginia during Brown's entire tenure, and Reagan and Brown worked together at both Troy and Texas Tech previously. In those two, plus assistant head coach Matt Moore (who previously held co-offensive coordinator duties the staff's first two seasons in Morgantown), and the return of former graduate assistant Bilal Marshall to the staff as wide receivers coach after one season at VMI (FCS), Brown has a solid supporting cast he trusts and that has a familiarity with one another after years together.
Moore, Scott and Reagan have all previously held co-coordinator titles under Brown.
Entering what many consider a make-or-break season, Brown will no doubt lean on his veteran offensive staff, but he reportedly shared with a number of reporters at Big 12 Media Day that he plans to take back the play calling duties.
“Really in a pivotal year, you fall back to your strengths,” he shared with ESPN's Heather Dinich.
Brown previously called effective and explosive offenses at Troy, Texas Tech, and Kentucky.
On The DA Show this morning, Brown was also asked about a number of presason polls picking them to finish last in the Big 12.
"I can guarantee you that we're not going to finish last in the Big 12 Conference. We're a much better football team than that. Now we just need to go out and show it."
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.