Neal Brown is Finalizing a Deal to Become the Next Head Coach at Group of Five School

It was reported earlier in the day by Brett Vito of the Denton Record-Chronicle that former West Virginia head coach Neal Brown was among the top candidates for the head coaching vacancy at North Texas. Moments ago, Vito reported that the Mean Green are set to go through with him and hire Brown as the program's next coach.

While things didn't work out for Brown in Morgantown, he is still someone many people around the industry respect. He went 35-16 in four years as the head man at Troy, including a 31-8 record over the final three years of his tenure. In 2017, he led the Trojans into Death Valley and pulled the upset over LSU by a 24-21 score. The year before, he nearly pulled another upset in the other Death Valley (Clemson), but fell short, losing 30-24. He also took down Nebraska on the road in his final year on the job.

During his time at West Virginia, he was at a serious disadvantage early on with COVID hitting in year two and then going through a couple of seasons where the Mountaineers were ravaged by key players transferring out of the program. In 2023, he led West Virginia to a nine-win season, marking their best win total since 2016. However, thing spiraled out of control the following year, ending the 2024 season with a blowout 52-15 loss to Texas Tech, which would end up being his final game as the school's head coach.

There have been several coaches throughout the history of college football who did much better in their second stint at a Power Four/Five job, and perhaps Brown could join that club down the road if he has success at North Texas.

The Mean Green lost their head coach, Eric Morris, to Oklahoma State last week. True freshman starting quarterback Drew Mestemaker told reporters recently that he has not thought about the future and whether or not he'll follow Morris to Stillwater. If he chooses to stay put, Brown will have one of the top quarterbacks in the country to build with.

According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, it's a five-year deal.

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