Neal Brown admits 2022 season 'wasn't good enough'

Since Neal Brown took over in Morgantown in 2019, West Virginia still hasn’t finished with a winning record. Now, after the latest result was a 5-7 campaign in 2022, even he admits that he and the Mountaineers aren’t meeting expectations.

During a press conference on Monday, Brown did say he felt good about his team winning two of the last three weeks. However, considering the big picture overall, he knows that the product on the field once again fell short, specifically due to consistency.

“It just wasn’t good enough,” said Brown. “It’s on me. I accept it. I’m not trying to sugarcoat that. It wasn’t good enough.”

“I’m proud of how our guys finished (by) winning two of the last three. I am proud of that (by) beating Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Those are big wins,” Brown stated. “But we weren’t consistent enough. So, I know that.”

While West Virginia’s offense was good enough at times with an average of 30.6 points per game, they gave up way too many points defensively as they finished 116th in the nation by giving up 32.9.

Of the 10 teams in the Big 12, West Virginia was one of three that wasn’t ranked this season. That’s because they finished ninth in the league with that 5-7 record. The Mountaineers also only finished with a 3-6 mark against conference competition. Still, even though the conference was loaded again, results were expected to turn around at this point of Brown’s tenure.

Brown recognizing there’s a problem, especially publicly, is a start. Now, it’s on him to solve it and put forth a result that is good enough. Brown has to find a way to at the very least post a winning campaign next season or else, in this era of college football, his time with the Mountaineers might not last much longer.