Neal Brown explains promoting Chad Scott to offensive coordinator

Going into what seems like a make-or-break 2023 season, West Virginia head coach Neal Brown is on his third offensive coordinator in as many seasons. With Graham Harrell moving over to Purdue, Brown promoted Chad Scott to be the team’s new offensive coordinator.

Scott, who served as run-game coordinator and running backs coach, earned his promotion to offensive coordinator, as Brown explained.

“Let’s talk about Chad Scott being promoted first and foremost, and it’s a promotion that he’s earned,” Neal Brown started.

“Last year he held the title of ‘run game coordinator’ and that wasn’t just a title on paper, he really coordinated our run game and I thought we showed a lot of growth. If you look at his position room, I think from ’20 on has really exceeded expectations and I think you can see it in the way his guys have produced, and he’s been our most consistent recruiter, not only at positionally but from an area standpoint, and he’s dynamic in front of the room–guys want to follow him.”

In 2022, West Virginia had 171.5 rushing yards per game, which was good for 52nd in the country and seventh in the Big 12. However, several of the new additions to the Big 12 were also better running the ball than the Mountaineers in 2022, including BYU and UCF, the latter of which would have led the conference in rushing.

“I think you saw the social media clip that Clay put out. He’s really well liked, he’s really well respected, and he’s earned that opportunity to lead that side of the unit,” Neal Brown continued. “Alright? Lead that unit on the offensive side.”

Neal Brown said that West Virginia is going to get to play calling and “maneuver through that” during Spring. He also emphasized how happy he has been with Scott.

West Virginia on retaining Neal Brown

There is no question that Neal Brown’s job security came into question during the 2022 season. He survived it, though, and West Virginia even released a statement regarding the decision to retain Brown.

“Over the past several weeks, President (Gordon) Gee and I have discussed the future of WVU Athletics and our football program with a number of individuals and talented athletic administrators from across the country,” then interim athletic director Rob Alsop said.

“We were also impressed with the effort of our team the last few weeks. Additionally, we have also had discussions with Coach Brown and our new Director of Athletics, Wren Baker, about our next steps as a department. In fact, Wren and Coach Brown have already connected relating to the future of the program. As a result of all of these efforts and discussions, it is clear that Coach Brown should continue to lead our football program.”