North Texas Hires Neal Brown as Head Coach
The former Troy, WVU head coach will lead the Mean Green
It was rumored all week that the leader in the clubhouse to be the next head coach at North Texas was former WVU, Troy head coach Neal Brown. It was made official today.
Jared Mosley from the press release:
We are thrilled to welcome Neal Brown as our next head football coach,” Mosley said. “Neal is a proven leader who builds programs with integrity, vision and an unwavering commitment to developing student-athletes on and off the field. His history of elevating rosters, developing talent and producing results in highly competitive leagues makes him an ideal fit for North Texas. We are confident that his leadership will position the Mean Green for sustained success, and we look forward to the impact he and his family will have on our program and our community for years to come.”
In an email preceding the press release he highlighted the following:
In 2023, Coach Brown led West Virginia to a 9-4 overall record, the most single season wins for the program since 2016, and a final ranking of No. 25 overall in the US LBM Coaches Poll. From 2015-18 as the head coach at Troy, Brown coached the Trojans to a 35-16 overall record including a 31-8 mark from 2016-18. In that span, Brown’s .794 winning percentage was the third highest in FBS, trailing only Alabama’s Nick Saban and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney who each won National Championships during that stretch. He was also one of just six coaches to win 10+ games in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
The fact is that Neal Brown had a few things going for him:
He knows Texas — While he is from Kentucky, he has coached for a while at Texas Tech and spent the last season at UT-Austin.
He knows the offensive system — While Eric Morris is likely to take most if not all the staff and the first choice of offensive players, Neal Brown runs a similar system and should be able to make a case to the existing roster and what is left of the committed class to stay.
He has won — WVU was a weird situation, and his resumé is mostly about his time at Troy where he won a lot. He had big offenses, good defenses, and a run game. You might remember he put 50 on Seth Littrell in New Orleans.
He was available — He’s an experienced coach, but one whose star had faded a bit. That’s not a bad thing. Sarkesian, his boss at Texas, current drama-master Lane Kiffin and many others have spent time away from the spotlight in an analyst role looking to get back into the coaching ranks after something like a semester abroad. Getting time to really just look at how everyone else is working things is useful, and I’m sure he’s come back refreshed and full of ideas.
The great news is that North Texas can get back into the recruiting game. National Signing Day is tomorrow, and I’m sure the first order of business for Neal Brown is to get on the phones with recruits — existing and new — and let them know they have a home in Denton.
Louisiana Tech head coach Sonny Cumbie said today “With North Texas and Colorado State jobs open, some of those guys you came in second on you can come back and recruit again.”
Brown has a lot to do tonight and tomorrow to salvage the early signing day class. No word on staff and the rest, as I’m sure that’s priority number two. Again, given his time away from the limelight, he had plenty of time to build a prospective staff — even if it is in his own head.
TODOS:
Build a staff — including a GM
Get on the phones with the existing roster
Rebuild the roster
Go Mean Green!
Was just opining, while relaying all of this stuff, to The Solid Verbal community about if the likes of WrenBaker, being the former AD at UNT who left for WVU, had anything to say about the guy he fired at WVU going to his former stop, at UNT. Was there any word on that?
Am expecting a continued approach, at least to the offensive-scheme, that EricMorris is leaving here, perhaps with just a good year-or-so to get him "used to" the Conference and to rebuild this team. Am expecting a tad bit of a drop-off next season, but a return to such double-digit success in the years after (and hope to be a part of one of those)!
GMG!