MORGANTOWN — Neal Brown was asked this week whether the final four weeks of the West Virginia University football team’s regular season would serve as a sort of audition for new defensive coordinator Jeff Koonz, promoted to that spot last week following the dismissal of former coordinator Jordan Lesley. Brown stopped short of calling it an audition, saying it was a “big opportunity” for his inside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator.
But the questioner was right. These final four games of the Mountaineers regular season will be Koonz’ audition. Yet, let’s all be honest and take it a step further.
If you’re a member of the WVU football program, coach or player, with designs on returning in 2025, these final four games are an audition for you.
Yes, that means you, too.
At Year 6 of Brown’s tenure, the program is quickly approaching a crossroad. There hasn’t been a noxiously awful season since Brown’s arrival, no two- or three-win stinkers. But there hasn’t been a massively triumphant season either. WVU has never finished higher than fourth in the Big 12 standings with Brown as coach. No conference titles. No conference title games.
At some point, athletic administration will wonder if the team will continue running in place with the staff and roster it fields. Folks who sign checks – paychecks and donation checks – will want to see progress.
That’s why last year’s nine-win season meant what it did. It was a four-win swing from the year before, a bowl win and an appearance in a Top 25 poll. The bowl win hadn’t happened since the COVID-shortened 2020 season. The poll appearance had never happened under Brown.
That’s progress. That’s what people want to see. And people also want to see if that finish signified either a new plateau for the program, or a middle step to even higher levels.
Yet to even match last year’s regular-season win total, WVU will have to do something it has never done under Brown: go undefeated in November. The Mountaineers came close last year, going 3-1 in that month, but now they’ll have to be even better than they were last season.
So, yes, these next four games are an audition for Koonz. WVU’s defense has been objectively awful in several categories this year, costing the Mountaineers wins that would have pushed them to that next level. Getting that unit to halfway decent not only should help in the win column, but solidify Koonz’ argument that he’s the guy for the job.
These next four games are also an audition for Nicco Marchiol for as long as he continues to start. Regardless of whether regular starting quarterback Garrett Greene climbs out of the “doubtful” column from his head injury, he’s a senior. The reins of the offense are up for grabs next year. If Marchiol plays like he did against Oklahoma State and Arizona for the rest of 2024, that job should be his. If he plays like he did against Kansas State, the transfer portal has made it much easier to look for the next starting signalcaller elsewhere. It looks very likely he’ll start this weekend against Cincinnati, so he has to make the most out of his minutes.
And, obviously, these four games are an audition for Brown. After six years, there is more than enough of a sample size to determine where Brown’s tenure should continue. Yes, as Brown has pointed out, every loss WVU has suffered this year has come at the hands of a nationally ranked team (though it doesn’t help his argument that all four lost last weekend). But there’s no team like that left on the schedule.
With the exception of the already bowl-eligible Texas Tech, the rest of the slate – Cincinnati, UCF and Baylor – are all in WVU’s predicament. They’ve enjoyed some ups. They’ve fought through some downs.
If WVU can run the table against these four teams, it can say, “Hey, maybe we’re not at the level of Iowa State and BYU just yet. Maybe we’re in the tier below that. But we’re the best team in that tier and we just proved it.” That should be enough to convince the powers that be that the program is on the right track.
So the Mountaineers will spend the final month of the regular season under the microscope of fans and pundits and WVU’s athletic administration should join in, too.
“The fate of our season will be determined over the next four weeks,” Brown said.
The fate of a lot more will likely be determined along with it.
— Story by Derek Redd
