Some people just have too much disposable income on their hands.
A group of WVU football fans dubbing themselves “The Wolfpack” have spent the money on a trio of billboards around Morgantown emblazoned with the words “Fire Neal Brown.” The group obviously isn’t happy with the Mountaineers’ 4-4 record this year, nor are they satisfied with Brown’s 35-33 overall record.
Now, before you say anything, yes, it is most certainly The Wolfpack’s First Amendment right to buy billboards around Morgantown demanding Brown be removed from his post.
It’s also my First Amendment right to say how silly it is.
What do those guys think is the endgame for their little purchase? Do they think Brown will drive past one of those billboards and say to himself, “Y’know, they’re right,” and run right to athletic director Wren Baker’s office to resign?
Do they think Baker will drive past one on the way to work and say to himself, “Y’know, they’re right,” and pink slip Brown before lunch?
All these guys did was throw money at something when it could have been better spent elsewhere. But stunts like these billboards are nothing special – and nothing new. It’s just another page in the wacky annals of college football fandom.
It’s not like The Wolfpack birthed a novel concept, even at WVU. Remember, Mountaineer fans hung Bobby Bowden in effigy in 1974, his lone losing season out of six in Morgantown. In 1999, competing banners were flown over WVU’s home game against Virginia Tech both for and against coach Don Nehlen, one saying “Nehlen Must Go” and another saying “We Support Don Nehlen and WVU.” And does anyone remember the “Don Nehlen Up-The-Middle-O-Meter” banner hung in the corner of Mountaineer Field in the 1990s? At least that one was funny.
Shoot, Bowden couldn’t dodge the dadgummed detractors after he moved to Florida State, where he won two national titles and finished in the Associated Press top four for 14 straight seasons. In 2006, an FSU fan created the website RetireCoachBowden.com, which was much more polite than down the road in Gainesville, where University of Florida fans created FireRonZook.com. And there’s also the time where a fan filed a Freedom of Information Act request for then-Arkansas football coach Houston Nutt’s cell phone records.
The bottom line is fans have been logging protests against college football coaches since time immemorial. Coaches know second-guessing from outside the football building comes with the territory. Brown said that himself earlier this year.
“If you’re going to play, if you’re going to coach, you’re going to work at a high level in any given profession that you’re in public – which this is a public profession – you’re going to get scrutinized,” he said. “And I will tell you … you’ve got to be careful who you take criticism from. Don’t accept criticism from somebody you wouldn’t go to for advice. I try to live that.”
Translation: Three billboards inside Morgantown, West Virginia, probably won’t be as effective as you’d hope. In fact, public displays like that could turn around and bite the program down the line.
If a coaching change does happen somewhere down the line, who’s to say a highly prized candidate doesn’t look at that stunt and say, “Hmm, the previous guy won nine games and a bowl the year before and they bought billboards wanting him fired when he was .500 eight games into the next season? No thanks.” Now, I’m sure some of the fanbase will say, “If they can’t handle that, they shouldn’t be coaching.” But hiring a football coach at WVU’s level is a seller’s market. There are 67 Power Four football coaching jobs in America. The top-dog contenders might stomach that at Auburn or Michigan, but probably not in Morgantown.
I’m sure footing the bill for billboards or airplane banners or websites make those doing the spending feel better, but it’s really just another example of how goofy college fandom can get.
If you’re looking to spend money, give it to an NIL group, a school at the university or even a local animal shelter, someplace where it can do some good. And if you’re looking for a hobby, try birdwatching. It’s much more relaxing.
– Story by Derek Redd
