MORGANTOWN — 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 position this week, as did current West Virginia defensive coordinator Tony Gibson.
University sources said the hiring wasn’t yet official Friday, but Lyons was excited to land one of the top coaches at the Group of Five level.
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 has continued calling plays in his head coaching role at Troy.
His overall record with the Trojans was 35-16, including 23-9 in the Sun Belt Conference.
