Could Ex-WVU HC Neal Brown Be a Candidate for the Baylor Opening?

It might be a long shot, but the former Mountaineer head coach could be on the list of candidates for Baylor.

Oct 24, 2026; Annapolis, Maryland, USA; North Texas Mean Green head coach Neal Brown walks down the sidelines during the first half against the Navy Midshipmen at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Following a second straight loss, dropping their record to 4-3 on the season, the Baylor Bears fired head football coach Dave Aranda over the weekend.

A bunch of names have already been floated around as potential candidates, one of which is former West Virginia header Neal Brown. Craig Meyer of USA Today listed Brown among seven others as possible fits for the Bears, and some others have floated the idea around as well.

"Brown has done excellent work in his first season at North Texas, where he inherited a stripped-down program after coach Eric Morris took many of the most important pieces with him to Oklahoma State. Still, the Mean Green are 5-2 with the nation's No. 2 scoring offense, a unit that's averaging 43.1 points per game. Brown runs a wide-open offense that would remind some Baylor fans of the program's best years and has Big 12 experience, having spent six seasons as West Virginia coach. But his 37-35 mark with the Mountaineers may be enough to scare off a program in the same league and with relatively similar NIL resources."

Why Neal Brown will get another Power Four job eventually

Sep 21, 2024; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Neal Brown walks along the sidelines during the second quarter against the Kansas Jayhawks at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

I would be shocked if Brown landed the Baylor job or any other Power Four opening after just one season at North Texas. He has done a great job of continuing the success that Eric Morris built with that program despite having to pretty much rebuild the entire roster.

If you thought the Drew Mestemaker/Caleb Hawkins duo was dynamic at UNT, look what Neal has been able to do with Tayven Jackson and Jahiem White.

UNT offensive "Big 3" 2025 vs 2026 comparison through 7 games: pic.twitter.com/LmWTCU9PGm

— Ian Pfaffenberger (@ianpfaffmedia) October 24, 2026

Brown may be on the long list of candidates that Baylor looks at, but I'm not sure one year of success at North Texas is going to be enough for them or anyone to invest their future in him.

His first stint as a Power Four head coach did not go all that well, and there are a million reasons why that was the case. WVU was not prepared for the new world of NIL and also had to deal with other factors such as the pandemic and the transfer portal. Simply put, the job he agreed to was not the job he ended up having, and many things were stacked against him.

Brown will win a bunch of games at North Texas, which is going to get the attention of Power Four teams, but it's going to be another year or two, I'd imagine, before he gets a second crack at it.

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