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WVSPORTS.COM West Virginia head coach Neal Brown press conference summary

Keenan Cummings

Fact Based and Wonderful
Staff
Sep 16, 2007
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--West Virginia head coach Neal Brown said he would do this recap and he is now doing it. He at one point wanted to be a journalist but was the editor of the school paper and didn't want to do that after a few weeks.

--Mike Montoro had a major surgical procedure and is doing well and is recovering faster than initially expected.

--It wasn't good enough. It's on him, he accepts that 2022 wasn't good enough. He is proud of how his team finished but they weren't consistent enough. He knows that. Offensively, they underachieved on that side of the ball. When they got here in January of 2019 he knew it was going to be a little bit of a process. They were going to go young on the offensive line and develop some young wide receivers and took some lumps during that process. Last fall was the first point that he felt very good and he felt like they could compete week in and week out and they just didn't do that. When they look at it, the three areas they have to fix is eliminate the errors, too many turnovers and too many penalties at critical times and you have to clean those up. The second e is efficiency if you look at the first play of the series they must be more efficient there. And third e is explosives they regressed in that and that's what they need to improve at.

--Staff is Chad Scott being promoted. It's a promotion that he earned. He had the title of run game coordinator, and he coordinated that in real life it wasn't just a title. His position room has constantly exceeded expectations and he has been the most consistent recruiter. He is dynamic in front of the room. Guys want to follow him and he's really well liked and respected. Play calling they are going to maneuver how they do that during the spring. Sean Reagan has moved back to quarterbacks and who maximizes talent and gets the most out of their guys. Coaching great players isn't overly difficult but who can develop and get max out of their talent? He has done that with quarterbacks. Bilal Marshall brought him back and he's as good of a young coach that he has been around since he's been leading offenses. He's going to be an elite recruiter. You're going to see some real growth. Blaine Stewart didn't get hired because his dad was the head coach here. He did a good job developing relationships and Mike Tomlin has really benefited West Virginia here. He's gone up and watched Stewart coach and multiple staff members brought his name to Brown. He has to learn the recruiting piece of it but football he will add to the room.

--Defensively, not up to their standards. Gave them a chance in every game as they got the personnel where they needed to be offensively but it just wasn't up to their standards. The issues were pass defense, gave up way too many explosives and third down defense and didn't create takeways. When things go wrong you look and say why and the easy thing to do is let's just start firing people and he's not saying that's the wrong reaction all the time but when he started evaluating where they were he got to this. They need to win now. They need to have a winning season and how do you make those improvements in a nine month period to start winning football games against a difficult schedule? They have to coach better. The portal hurt them last year and they have to be better at certain positions. But he believes in the defensive staff. You don't forget how to coach in a one year period. Pass defense was an issue in 2022, they were first in 2020 and third in 2021. They were first in 2020 in fewest explosives and second in 2021 after struggling majorly last year. The issue isn't with the people and consistency and cohesiveness are more in house. At the end of the day it's on him they weren't good enough, but he believes that they have the people to get it done in the building because they have done it before.

--Roster construction it's almost like a bank account with the transfer portal. You have deposits and withdrawls. He hopes they are bringing in more than they are losing but not as a number. Some people leave for more playing time and some is you clear out space but some leave that you don't want to. West Virginia lost two starters in that process and they'd have loved to keep them but that wasn't the case. Devin Carter they've lost a lot of production in the wide receiver room and they really needed to add a one and they beat a lot of really good people for him. They think he can be even more productive than he's been. Ja'Shaun Poke will play inside wide receiver and he also is a returner. He has a chance to really improve them there. Kole Taylor is a high priority for a pass receiving tight end and they want to take advantage of that. Pass rushing threat at the defensive line and Davoan Hawkins will be a good fit there. Montre Miller is one of the fastest guys in the secondary and he can really run. He was one of the fastest and will compete right away. Michael Hayes did all three kicking things at Georgia State and will add distance and touchbacks. Fatorma Mulbah is going to add quality and is a big body that can play the interior.

--Right now West Virginia is right at 80 scholarships. Definitely will add one high school signee in the late period. He expects a little attrition in the second window and three to five additions from the portal during the second window with secondary and another wide receiver over the next three to five months.

--Graham Harrell brought some system things in the pass game and the easiness of learning it. They found what they are in the run game and they have a lot of returning options there to be a strength. They can build off that further and they have to hit run-action passes.

--Scott being in that role it will give him the ability to get more involved.

--Doug Nester has a lot of experience and there is a ton of growth there. The group of guys that are already in the program.

--Devin Carter two things that were factors is his mom is from West Virginia and Bryce Ford-Wheaton's relationship with him did matter. He saw the production that he had over the past two years. He wanted the opportunity to be more productive.

--Brown is very keenly aware that they need to win. Every decision that they've made is that they need to win. Time will tell, but every decision that he has made has been for us to have better results in 2023.

--Last year was the first time that he hadn't done the play calling. It's a wait and see how it will go he wants to give him opportunities in spring scrimmages. Brown will be heavily involved and he really wasn't that until the last three or four games last year. He will be heavily involved. Every opportunity he's had is the ability to coach offense. Reagan will be in the box and he won't be the primary play caller but will be involved.

--Brown said he knows the teams they're playing on the schedule but not the dates.

--Two guys will make jumps Cortez Braham and Jeremiah Aaron from their first year. He believes those two guys will make big jumps. Rodney Gallagher will have an opportunity to play early and maybe Traylon Ray. Somebody in that room that they're not talking about will make a jump. They need to add one more. Speed is a premium. If they can find that they would prefer to add that.

--You have to recruit, develop and retain and you have to retain the guys you need to retain. Marshall's ability to relate is going to help him in that.

--It comes down to those running backs being unselfish. To play more than one running back one of them has to block. CJ Donaldson has run more routes than he has taken carries.

--The key is that every situation with transfers is different. I try not to complain about stuff he doesn't have solutions for at this time. He doesn't think they will ever go back to where they have to sit out with transfers but the multiple transfers are an issue but he doesn't know how to regulate it.

--Aubrey Burks is good and CJ Donaldson will be released to practice in the next month.

--The plan is to hold back 2 or 3 scholarships in the spring.
 
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--West Virginia head coach Neal Brown said he would do this recap and he is now doing it. He at one point wanted to be a journalist but was the editor of the school paper and didn't want to do that after a few weeks.

--Mike Montoro had a major surgical procedure and is doing well and is recovering faster than initially expected.

--It wasn't good enough. It's on him, he accepts that 2022 wasn't good enough. He is proud of how his team finished but they weren't consistent enough. He knows that. Offensively, they underachieved on that side of the ball. When they got here in January of 2019 he knew it was going to be a little bit of a process. They were going to go young on the offensive line and develop some young wide receivers and took some lumps during that process. Last fall was the first point that he felt very good and he felt like they could compete week in and week out and they just didn't do that. When they look at it, the three areas they have to fix is eliminate the errors, too many turnovers and too many penalties at critical times and you have to clean those up. The second e is efficiency if you look at the first play of the series they must be more efficient there. And third e is explosives they regressed in that and that's what they need to improve at.

--Staff is Chad Scott being promoted. It's a promotion that he earned. He had the title of run game coordinator, and he coordinated that in real life it wasn't just a title. His position room has constantly exceeded expectations and he has been the most consistent recruiter. He is dynamic in front of the room. Guys want to follow him and he's really well liked and respected. Play calling they are going to maneuver how they do that during the spring. Sean Reagan has moved back to quarterbacks and who maximizes talent and gets the most out of their guys. Coaching great players isn't overly difficult but who can develop and get max out of their talent? He has done that with quarterbacks. Bilal Marshall brought him back and he's as good of a young coach that he has been around since he's been leading offenses. He's going to be an elite recruiter. You're going to see some real growth. Blaine Stewart didn't get hired because his dad was the head coach here. He did a good job developing relationships and Mike Tomlin has really benefited West Virginia here. He's gone up and watched Stewart coach and multiple staff members brought his name to Brown. He has to learn the recruiting piece of it but football he will add to the room.

--Defensively, not up to their standards. Gave them a chance in every game as they got the personnel where they needed to be offensively but it just wasn't up to their standards. The issues were pass defense, gave up way too many explosives and third down defense and didn't create takeways. When things go wrong you look and say why and the easy thing to do is let's just start firing people and he's not saying that's the wrong reaction all the time but when he started evaluating where they were he got to this. They need to win now. They need to have a winning season and how do you make those improvements in a nine month period to start winning football games against a difficult schedule? They have to coach better. The portal hurt them last year and they have to be better at certain positions. But he believes in the defensive staff. You don't forget how to coach in a one year period. Pass defense was an issue in 2022, they were first in 2020 and third in 2021. They were first in 2020 in fewest explosives and second in 2021 after struggling majorly last year. The issue isn't with the people and consistency and cohesiveness are more in house. At the end of the day it's on him they weren't good enough, but he believes that they have the people to get it done in the building because they have done it before.

--Roster construction it's almost like a bank account with the transfer portal. You have deposits and withdrawls. He hopes they are bringing in more than they are losing but not as a number. Some people leave for more playing time and some is you clear out space but some leave that you don't want to. West Virginia lost two starters in that process and they'd have loved to keep them but that wasn't the case. Devin Carter they've lost a lot of production in the wide receiver room and they really needed to add a one and they beat a lot of really good people for him. They think he can be even more productive than he's been. Ja'Shaun Poke will play inside wide receiver and he also is a returner. He has a chance to really improve them there. Kole Taylor is a high priority for a pass receiving tight end and they want to take advantage of that. Pass rushing threat at the defensive line and Davoan Hawkins will be a good fit there. Montre Miller is one of the fastest guys in the secondary and he can really run. He was one of the fastest and will compete right away. Michael Hayes did all three kicking things at Georgia State and will add distance and touchbacks. Fatorma Mulbah is going to add quality and is a big body that can play the interior.

--Right now West Virginia is right at 80 scholarships. Definitely will add one high school signee in the late period. He expects a little attrition in the second window and three to five additions from the portal during the second window with secondary and another wide receiver over the next three to five months.

--Graham Harrell brought some system things in the pass game and the easiness of learning it. They found what they are in the run game and they have a lot of returning options there to be a strength. They can build off that further and they have to hit run-action passes.

--Scott being in that role it will give him the ability to get more involved.

--Doug Nester has a lot of experience and there is a ton of growth there. The group of guys that are already in the program.

--Devin Carter two things that were factors is his mom is from West Virginia and Bryce Ford-Wheaton's relationship with him did matter. He saw the production that he had over the past two years. He wanted the opportunity to be more productive.

--Brown is very keenly aware that they need to win. Every decision that they've made is that they need to win. Time will tell, but every decision that he has made has been for us to have better results in 2023.

--Last year was the first time that he hadn't done the play calling. It's a wait and see how it will go he wants to give him opportunities in spring scrimmages. Brown will be heavily involved and he really wasn't that until the last three or four games last year. He will be heavily involved. Every opportunity he's had is the ability to coach offense. Reagan will be in the box and he won't be the primary play caller but will be involved.

--Brown said he knows the teams they're playing on the schedule but not the dates.

--Two guys will make jumps Cortez Braham and Jeremiah Aaron from their first year. He believes those two guys will make big jumps. Rodney Gallagher will have an opportunity to play early and maybe Traylon Ray. Somebody in that room that they're not talking about will make a jump. They need to add one more. Speed is a premium. If they can find that they would prefer to add that.

--You have to recruit, develop and retain and you have to retain the guys you need to retain. Marshall's ability to relate is going to help him in that.

--It comes down to those running backs being unselfish. To play more than one running back one of them has to block. CJ Donaldson has run more routes than he has taken carries.

--The key is that every situation with transfers is different. I try not to complain about stuff he doesn't have solutions for at this time. He doesn't think they will ever go back to where they have to sit out with transfers but the multiple transfers are an issue but he doesn't know how to regulate it.

--Aubrey Burks is good and CJ Donaldson will be released to practice in the next month.

--The plan is to hold back 2 or 3 scholarships in the spring.
Keenan, nice summary. Thanks for providing.
 
--West Virginia head coach Neal Brown said he would do this recap and he is now doing it. He at one point wanted to be a journalist but was the editor of the school paper and didn't want to do that after a few weeks.

Perhaps he should follow his dream of being a journalist instead of a coach.
 
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