MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia has settled on Troy’s Neal Brown as its new football coach, and athletics director Shane Lyons was working Friday to finalize contract details.
The school has informed Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell of its decision. Fickell and Brown interviewed for the vacancy this week, as did current West Virginia defensive coordinator Tony Gibson.
University sources said Brown’s hiring wasn’t yet official Friday, but Lyons was excited to land one of the top coaches at the Group of Five level.
He replaces Dana Holgorsen, whose eight-year tenure ended Wednesday when he left for Houston.
Brown’s recent 31-8 three-year stretch made him a candidate for recent vacancies at Louisville and Kansas State. His 2017 team won at LSU and his 2016 squad battled to a 30-24 loss at Clemson.
On route to this year’s 10-3 mark, Troy won at Nebraska and ultimately beat Buffalo 42-30 in the Dollar General Bowl.
An “Air Raid” disciple who played receiver for Hal Mumme at Kentucky, the 38-year-old Brown has been an offensive coordinator at Texas Tech and Kentucky. He continued calling plays in his head coaching role at Troy.
Brown’s overall record with the Trojans was 35-16, including 23-9 in the Sun Belt Conference.
INtent on hiring head-coachiWest Virginia’s second-tier list of candidates included Mike Norvell of Memphis, Seth Littrell of North Texas and Toledo’s Jason Candle. But Lyons and university President Gordon Gee never had to move beyond there top two choices, Brown and Fickell.