The Mountaineers Priorities Remain the Same Following the Release of NIL
West Virginia head coach Neal Brown has been preparing for the evolving landscape of college football since his arrival to Morgantown. The changes to the transfer over the last couple of years have left coaches around the country scrambling at times to fill the allotted scholarships and, naturally, West Virginia has taken a bit of a hit in that area due to recent coaching changes, although arguments can be made that they've gotten the better end of the deal.
The coaching staff prides itself on building relationships with their players, which will be a factor in retaining players, and with the most recent changes with the launch of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), relationships, again, are a factor.
“As coaches, the important piece with the players is relationships. None of that changes. Name, Image, and Likeness, that doesn't change. You have to focus on relationships, and I think from our staff's perspective, that's what our focus is. And then everybody on our staff was hired because they are experts in football. And we have to continue to maintain that expertise by staying up on schemes, staying up on evaluations, those types of things.
Last spring, Brown installed the Fifth Quarter Program and was the first to partner with brand consultant Jeremy Darlow, preparing for the Name, Image, and Likeness the inevitably launched just weeks ago.
“I think this is a challenging time for coaches. What I mean is we're in an evolving world, and I don't know if anybody will sit at this podium necessarily has answers for what the future of our game looks like, he said. “The two main priorities that our players have right now are academics and football, and you have to maintain those.
“Now, I think they can continue within the right structure. They can maintain those priorities and still profit off name, image and likeness. They can still do things socially. I think those are all possible," said Brown.
"So, all the stuff on the perimeter, whether it's our fifth-quarter program, whether it's different time demands due to name, image, likeness, we have to keep the main things the main things. That's the role of the head coach, to make sure that myself and our staff and everybody, players-wise, as well, are keeping the main things the main things.”
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