Neal Brown opens up on West Virginia facing Dana Holgorsen

On Thursday, West Virginia will take on Houston in what is shaping up to be an emotional game. That is, in large part, because current Mountaineers’ head coach Neal Brown replaced current Cougars’ head coach Dana Holgorsen at West Virginia. That came as Holgorsen chose to leave for what was then a Group of Five program.

This will be the first meeting between Holgorsen and his old school. For Brown, it’s a storyline that’s tough to ignore and one that he does his best to respect.

“I know a lot is going to be made about West Virginia playing Dan, and I get it,” Neal Brown said. “And I think what doesn’t get talked about, Dana did a good job here and I’m reminded because every day I drive into this parking lot and I see a picture of him and the Orange Bowl team.”

In 2011, Dana Holgorsen’s first as the head coach at West Virginia, he led them to a 10-3 season and a massive Orange Bowl win over Clemson. The next season, Holgorsen led the Mountaineers into the Big 12.

“So, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that. Did a really good job. Dana and his staff,” Brown said.

When it was all said and done for Holgorsen at West Virginia, he finished with a 61-41 record in eight seasons and he had three top-25 finishes.

“But the storyline, Malachi Ruffin is really the only player that played under the previous staff. I think we’ve got three guys that were recruited by the previous staff.”

Along with Dana Holgorsen being at Houston and several West Virginia players having a connection to him, there are also players on Houston who used to play for West Virginia. Neal Brown brought up all four of those players and spoke about why they moved on.

“Then, they have four of our former players and I talked about this last week, maybe is Mike O [O’Laughlin] and Tony Mathis did everything we asked them to do, made solid contributions, they graduated, did a good job on and off the field here. So, I get it and wish them the best. Then, [Noah] Guzman wanted a different role,” Brown said.

“Then, Sam [Brown], Sam’s playing at an extremely high level. We knew when we recruited him, he was gonna be a really talented player, and really I probably didn’t do a very good job handling him. The room that he came into probably didn’t help him either, and sometimes a change of scenery works and it’s worked for him. So, I’m happy for him. I think he’s one of the leading receivers in the Big 12. Hope he continues to have a great year, just not on Thursday night.”

Brown admitted that because of these connections, the game is going to be an emotional one. West Virginia just needs to be ready for that.

“The game will have some emotions to it. We know that. We’re preparing our guys for that.”

Neal Brown shares update on Aubrey Burks after neck injury

West Virginia defensive back Aubrey Burks had a scary neck injury in the TCU game. Luckily, Neal Brown was able to give a positive update on his health.

“I want to talk about our injuries,” Brown said. “Aubrey, all tests were negative. For what that was, he’s in good spirits and he’s gonna be okay. That was scary. But best possible results. Always tests were negative and so we expect him. He’ll go through protocol and then be on his way.”