West Virginia Football: What I Think When I’m Not Having Fun

After trailing 17-10 going into halftime, West Virginia experienced misfortune in the second half, falling 45-18 as another chance to beat a ranked team was wasted. There are factors and circumstances that contributed to this result. Let’s talk about it, talk about Neal Brown’s comments during the week and see where we go from here.

Rushing attack

On the surface, it looks good that we racked up 152 yards rushing against the fifth-ranked run defense in the country, nearly doubling their average allowed. To put this into perspective, they gave up 582 rushing yards this season and we accounted for 25% of that total. However, a closer look shows that Garrett Greene was responsible for 89 of these yards, accounting for over 60% of our land production. The rest of the team – CJ Donaldson, Jaheim White, Rodney Gallagher, Jaylen Anderson and Nicco Marchiol – combined for 32 carries and just 63 yards, an average of 1.9 yards per carry. This underscores how critical Greene is to our overall success.

Appropriate defense

Avery Johnson, the sophomore quarterback for Kansas State and the second-leading rusher among Big 12 QBs (behind Garrett Greene), didn’t run the ball once last night. Instead, he threw 29 passes and completed 19 for 298 yards and 3 touchdowns – both career highs. Johnson completed 65% of his passes, was neither sacked nor intercepted, and finished the game with a QBR of 96.5 (out of 100).

West Virginia’s pass defense ranks 111th and allows 254 yards per game. It ranks 122nd in passing touchdowns allowed, with 15 given up so far – only 8 teams have allowed more. They rank 106th in interceptions, of which there have only been 3 this season, and 127th in opposing QB rating allowed at 162.31 – only 7 teams have allowed a higher rating.

West Virginia’s pass defense is not good and hasn’t been for a long time. The constant back and forth between man and zone coverages didn’t work. The team needs new voices in the secondary school and someone who can convey and implement a concept.

Injuries

Early in the game, WVU was already struggling with Aubrey Burks and Ayden Garnes out and TJ Jackson making a game-winning decision. During the game, Garrett Greene, Jaheim White and Wyatt Milum all suffered injuries in the first half and did not return after halftime. Greene’s absence in the second half turned a close game into a bust. If Greene is out for an extended period of time, what was once considered an easier second-half game plan could now become much more difficult.

Neal Brown’s “funny” comment

On Monday, Brown tried to explain why fans should continue to come to games given losses to ranked teams and in “big” games. Brown stumbled over his words and instead made the faux pas of an answer that took on a life of its own.

I understand that they want to win. But what I would say is: did they have a good time? Did you like it? It was a pretty good atmosphere. I assume they had quite a bit of fun tailgating. So if they’re in it for fun, I’d come back. I looked at the weather, it’s going to be nice again.

I understand that they are frustrated that we didn’t win. We played a tough schedule. Anyone who beat us didn’t lose. But that’s not an excuse, that’s just the truth and games in our league will be limited to the fourth quarter and I don’t think this one will be any different on Saturday. We need your help. I understand your frustration.

Since then, fans have been outraged, and attempts by the athletic department and media to explain that he didn’t mean it haven’t helped. There is a growing divide between Brown and the fan base.

Do I think Brown meant that the fans should come because of the traffic and the weather while the game is less important? No, I don’t think he’s that clueless. Do I think it was taken out of context? No, he said what he said. No one derived the phrase “good time” – they are their own words. WVU tried to put it behind them, but that didn’t happen, and now the “funny” comments will follow Brown until he starts winning more consistently. Fans won’t soon forget this.

I understand that Brown needed to make a quick statement on Thursday and move on. And maybe statsboyandi is right – at this point, anything Neal does will annoy me. This bitch eats crackers. His response on Thursday frustrated me because it lacked accountability; he doesn’t seem to think he did anything wrong.

First of all, I think it wasn’t my best answer, right? I take responsibility for it. I own it. It wasn’t my best answer. But let me be clear: I want to start by saying that I hate losing. I think everyone who has been around me knows this. It’s not okay. I can’t stand it. I think every coach and player in our building can support that, and I think every coach and player in our building feels the same way.

I fully understand the expectations and scrutiny that come with this job. I get it and it’s part of being in a public space. If you want to criticize us for Saturday’s defeat, that’s fair. If you want to criticize a play, that’s fair. If you want to criticize a hiring decision, that’s fair. I think anything that has to do with football or a specific game is fair. Looking more closely at this comment, I don’t know if it’s fair.

I would urge everyone to just listen as I open the press conference. I really talked about how disappointed I was and I talked about how the stage was set because it was. It was a great night. I think our athletic department has done an excellent job. Our fans created a great atmosphere throughout the day. Mantrip was excellent. We had, I don’t know how many miners were at the end of the mantrip. 50+ probably. I mean, it was a great atmosphere. Everything was set. New uniforms, Coal Rush, top 10 opponents, and then we didn’t deliver. We didn’t win the game and that was tough.

The question I was asked was asked towards the end and I just didn’t answer it very well. If I had to do it again, I would answer: We have a damn good football team, we lost to three undefeated teams. At some point we’ll put it all together, use our abilities to the fullest, and finish one of these games. We have guys who play the right way. They play hard, they play physical. This is what our opponents say before or after they play against us.

We have people who care. There are so many players on our football team that come from the state of West Virginia. So you know exactly what this means for the fans here. And I want to encourage our fans to continue to come out and support because our guys are playing the right way and we’ll figure it out. That’s how I should have answered it. It wasn’t my best answer, but at the same time a lot of it was taken completely out of context.

The lines about “not fair” and “taken out of context” rub me the wrong way. Remove these and I’ll probably agree with the answer, but whining about fairness and being taken out of context… ahem. Stop playing the victim here. The problem now is that people have something to throw at him and they will throw it at him. One win heals everything, and the more he loses, the more wins it will take to heal that.

The airplane banner

In response to Brown’s comments, fans organized a fundraiser to hang a banner across the stadium that read “Are You Having Fun Yet?” Fire Neal Brown” or something like that. Some older fans criticized the move, calling it classless and damaging to the university’s reputation. However, younger fans saw it as a way to express their growing frustration. It’s not a “We lost a game and I’m angry” but a “We’ve been losing for six years and you won’t do anything.”

My opinion on this is: I understand. I understand why fans are frustrated and feel like this is the next step. Many fans supported the university, bought season tickets and were completely sold out this year. They were told in pre-season that this was the best team we had in six years. We had a lot of recurring production. Fans even worked together to raise over $100,000 in support of the team last year, a weekend “money bomb” that drew some attention. Fans bought new jerseys, new Coal Rush jerseys and have shown up to home games so far this year. The fans did their part. The team didn’t do it. The team continues to hover in the .500 range and fans want a little more. They want improvement.

Where the frustration has turned to resentment and anger is in the information being shared with fans. Fans are being told through numerous podcasts, articles, tweets and interactions with reporters that WVU will not release Brown in the middle of the season, that they probably won’t release him at the end of this season and that they may not release him at the end of the next one either be laid off every year.

WVU has never fired a coach midseason, and as long as there’s a chance of a bid, it makes sense not to fire Brown now. Considering that the longer this drags on, the worse it gets.

At the end of this year, Brown will be due 75% of his salary, which is about 12 million, meaning he would be due about 9 million. His assistants’ contracts run for another year, so it would cost another 1.5 to 2 million to fire them. Additionally, there is a new $20 million player payout that WVU must pay under their new contracts in addition to the Big 12’s reduced payout. Given that WVU just signed Brown to a contract extension this year, it is highly unlikely that Brown will be released this year. Now tell the fans that Brown is back no matter what, even if that means 5-7. Maybe even 4-8. Fans are unwilling to continue to support this if they have to allow another losing season.

The real frustration grows when fans are told that their wish may not even come true at the end of 2024! Hearing about having to sit through crap this year isn’t great, but fans can take it knowing there might be a light at the end of the tunnel. Hearing that the light is 10 miles away and not 2 miles away is very hard to bear. You risk that the fans simply don’t care. Next year, in 2025, WVU will be pushing the Pitt game in a big way. If you want to go to Pitt, you have to buy season tickets. If you want to go to Pitt you have to buy mini packs. You want to go to the family game where everyone can play, buy Pitt and have to buy mini packs. This is how WVU will sell you out, and because of this, fans will have to make a decision about whether they want to spend the money on multiple games. I’m not sure they will.