Neal Brown
Neal Brown went 76–53 as a head coach, 2015–2026, at Troy, West Virginia and North Texas. Share
- Record
- 76–53 career
- Seasons
- 11
- Schools
- 3
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Mar 11, 1980
- Alma mater
- Massachusetts 2002
- Best season
- 2017 11–2
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Troy | 4–8 | T–5th | |||
| 2016 | Troy | 10–3 | T–3rd | Dollar General Bowl W | ||
| 2017 | Troy | 11–2 | T–1st | New Orleans Bowl W | ||
| 2018 | Troy | 10–3 | T–1st (East) | Dollar General Bowl W | ||
| 2019 | West Virginia | 5–7 | T–7th | |||
| 2020 | West Virginia | 6–4 | 5th | Liberty Bowl W | ||
| 2021 | West Virginia | 6–7 | T–5th | Guaranteed Rate Bowl L | ||
| 2022 | West Virginia | 5–7 | T–7th | |||
| 2023 | West Virginia | 9–4 | T–4th | Duke’s Mayo Bowl W | 25 | |
| 2024 | West Virginia | 6–6 | T–8th | Frisco (not coached) | ||
| 2025: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 2026 | North Texas | 4–2 | ||||
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
Darius StillsConsensus All‑American, 2020
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 25 | 4–21 | 16% |
| Against top-10 teams | 7 | 0–7 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 14 | 7–7 | 50% |
| Conference games | 87 | 50–37 | 57% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 6 | 5–1 | 83% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 48 | 32–16 | 67% |
| At home | 62 | 42–20 | 68% |
| On the road | 61 | 29–32 | 48% |
| At neutral sites | 6 | 5–1 | 83% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 71 | 53–18 | 75% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 58 | 23–35 | 40% |
His own 129 games on file, 2015–2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Gundy 2019–2024 | 2–4 | Oklahoma State | 6 | |
| Scott Satterfield 2015–2024 | 3–2 | App State, Cincinnati | 5 | |
| Dave Aranda 2020–2024 | 3–2 | Baylor | 5 | |
| Chris Klieman 2019–2024 | 2–3 | Kansas State | 5 | |
| Matt Campbell 2019–2024 | 1–4 | Iowa State | 5 | |
| Lance Leipold 2018–2024 | 3–1 | Buffalo, Kansas | 4 | |
| Doug Martin 2015–2017 | 3–0 | New Mexico State | 3 | |
| Everett Withers 2016–2018 | 3–0 | Texas State | 3 | |
| Gary Patterson 2019–2021 | 3–0 | TCU | 3 | |
| Paul Petrino 2015–2017 | 2–1 | Idaho | 3 |
Neal Brown’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Baylorseries | 6 | 3–3 |
| Oklahoma Stateseries | 6 | 2–4 |
| Texas Techseries | 6 | 1–5 |
| Kansasseries | 5 | 4–1 |
| TCUseries | 5 | 4–1 |
| Kansas Stateseries | 5 | 2–3 |
| Iowa Stateseries | 5 | 1–4 |
| Texas Stateseries | 4 | 3–1 |
How he was hired
- Hired by West Virginia for the 2019 season from Troy, where he was head coach.
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | UMass | Tight ends and assistant offensive line coach | |
| 2004 | Sacred Heart | Quarterbacks and wide receivers coach | |
| 2005 | Delaware | Wide receivers coach | |
| 2006–07 | Troy | Inside receivers coach | |
| 2008–09 | Troy | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2010–12 | Texas Tech | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2013–14 | Kentucky | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2015–18 | Troy | Head coach | |
| 2019–24 | West Virginia | Head coach | |
| 2025 | Texas | Assistant to head coach | |
| 2026–present | North Texas | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Mark WhippleMassachusetts
- K.C. KeelerDelaware
- Larry BlakeneyTroy
- Tommy TubervilleTexas Tech
- Chris ThomsenTexas Tech
- Mark StoopsKentucky
- Steve SarkisianTexas
Assistants who became head coaches
- Jon SumrallTroy, Tulane, Florida
- Kenny EdenfieldSouthwest Mississippi
- Vic KoenningWyoming, Illinois
- Brandon HallTroy
- Chad ScottWest Virginia
- Gerad ParkerPurdue, Troy
- Bradley Dale PevetoNorthwestern State
Worked under (7)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Whipple | Massachusetts | 2003 | Tight ends and assistant offensive line coach | |
| K.C. Keeler | Delaware | 2005 | Wide receivers coach | |
| Larry Blakeney | Troy | 2006–09 | 2006–07: inside receivers coach; 2008–09: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Tommy Tuberville | Texas Tech | 2010–12 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Chris Thomsen | Texas Tech | 2012 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Mark Stoops | Kentucky | 2013–14 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Steve Sarkisian | Texas | 2025 | Assistant to head coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (7)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jon Sumrall | Troy, 2015–17: assistant head coach and linebackers and special teams coach | Troy, Tulane, Florida | |
| Kenny Edenfield | Troy, 2015–17: co-offensive coordinator and inside receivers coach | Southwest Mississippi | |
| Vic Koenning | Troy, 2015–18: defensive coordinator and safeties coach; West Virginia, 2019: defensive coordinator | Wyoming, Illinois | |
| Brandon Hall | Troy, 2018: special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach | Troy | |
| Chad Scott | West Virginia, 2019–21: co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach; 2022: running game coordinator and running backs coach; 2023–24: offensive coordinator and running backs coach; North Texas, 2026: running backs coach | West Virginia | |
| Gerad Parker | West Virginia, 2020–21: offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | Purdue, Troy | |
| Bradley Dale Peveto | North Texas, 2026: co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | Northwestern State |
Other assistants under him (13)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Matt Moore | Troy, 2016–18: co-offensive coordinator; West Virginia, 2019: offensive coordinator | |
| Sean Reagan | Troy, 2018: co-offensive coordinator | |
| Jahmile Addae | West Virginia, 2019: defensive backs coach; 2020: co-defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach | |
| Robby Brown | West Virginia, 2019: special assistant to head coach and senior offensive analyst | |
| Travis Trickett | West Virginia, 2019–21: inside receivers and tight ends coach | |
| Jeff Casteel | West Virginia, 2020: outside linebackers coach; 2021–24: analyst | |
| Jeff Koonz | West Virginia, 2020, 2024: co-defensive coordinator | |
| Jordan Lesley | West Virginia, 2020–24: defensive coordinator | |
| Kirk Ciarrocca | West Virginia, 2021: offensive assistant | |
| ShaDon Brown | West Virginia, 2021–24: co-defensive coordinator | |
| Graham Harrell | West Virginia, 2022: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Matt Mattox | North Texas, 2026: offensive line coach | |
| Matt Powledge | North Texas, 2026: defensive coordinator |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Troy | head coachbonuses up to $490,000; $80,000 in bonuses paid; buyout $2,894,167 | $800,000 USA Today | |
| 2016 | Troy | head coachbonuses up to $490,000 | $660,000 USA Today | |
| 2015 | Troy | head coachbonuses up to $475,000 | $660,000 USA Today | |
| 2014 | Kentucky | offensive coordinatorbonuses up to $91,667 | $552,400 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Brown’s teams went for it on 27% of fourth downs and on 47% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 51% of plays and took 25.5 seconds a play, 2015–2026.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 12 g | Troy | 19 of 102 19% | 28% | 54% | 23.4 | −0.04 | |
| 2016 11 g | Troy | 23 of 102 23% | 43% | 51% | 24.1 | −0.03 | |
| 2017 12 g | Troy | 18 of 88 20% | 31% | 55% | 23.8 | +0.05 | |
| 2018 13 g | Troy | 23 of 101 23% | 46% | 47% | 26.4 | 0.00 | |
| 2019 12 g | West Virginia | 19 of 106 18% | 36% | 60% | 24.8 | −0.08 | |
| 2020 10 g | West Virginia | 23 of 88 26% | 40% | 56% | 24.8 | +0.03 | |
| 2021 13 g | West Virginia | 27 of 102 26% | 51% | 54% | 26.4 | +0.05 | |
| 2022 12 g | West Virginia | 32 of 95 34% | 57% | 51% | 25.4 | +0.08 | |
| 2023 12 g | West Virginia | 30 of 89 34% | 57% | 39% | 27.6 | +0.12 | |
| 2024 13 g | West Virginia | 41 of 91 45% | 72% | 45% | 27.2 | +0.11 | |
| 2026 6 g | North Texas | 14 of 37 38% | 65% | 52% | 26.4 | +0.26 | |
| All 126 g | 269 of 1001 27% | 47% | 51% | 25.5 | +0.04 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.