Wren Baker Lays Out What He Needs to See From Neal Brown in 2023

It's no secret that Neal Brown needs to start winning football games at West Virginia. Four years in and he has three losing seasons under his belt with the lone winning season coming during the pandemic in 2020 where they played just 10 games and in front of no fans. 

So theoretically speaking, Brown has not produced a winner in normal college football circumstances during his time on the job. Shane Lyons being dismissed from his role as Athletic Director at the end of last season directly impacts Neal Brown. Maybe not right now, but in the future. Brown was Lyons' guy. Wren Baker inherits him as his coach and his job is to come in and fix the program in ways that he can off the field. However, it's still up to Brown to find ways to win games and if he doesn't, it could cost him his job.

During a recent interview with Three Guys Before the Game, Baker was asked about what he wants to see from Brown and the football team this season that shows things are heading in the right direction.

"I have never once talked about expectations in terms of a win total. I just think there's too much that can be influenced by that," Baker said. "You can hit that win total and not feel good about where the program is. You could miss it by one or two and feel like that was because of a catastrophic injury or set of injuries.

"So I think for me, I want to look at are we doing things the right way. Are we recruiting and retaining players? Do we play football that's disciplined football? And do we feel like the momentum is there for us to continue to build? We know that wins matter, I get that. I'm not hiding from that. I've been pretty clear that we've got to win more games. Coach Brown knows that. He's not hid from that and I've seen him numerous times say, 'I know we gotta win.' But I think as an AD, you're paid to be thoughtful, deliberate, and analytical in your approach to accessing that and not be emotional that's just focused on a win total. We'll be looking at the totality of the program from recruitment to retention to onboarding to how we're growing them as people, how they're progressing academically while understanding that athletic success matters."

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