Neal Brown on sideline communication, preventing sign-stealing: ‘They look like clown shows’

For the last two springs and in last year’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl, West Virginia got a sneak peek at what life would be like with in-game technology. NCAA rules prevented the use of headsets to communicate with players on the field, although there was some movement toward changing that.

With that technology, teams would be able to stop relaying signs the “old fashioned way” by using different signals and pictures from the sidelines. It’s a stark contrast to the NFL where quarterbacks have speakers in their helmets and coaches relay play calls from the sidelines.

WVU head coach Neal Brown pointed out the need to “clean up” the sidelines in college and streamline the play-calling process.

“I just think, if you look at our college sidelines, they look like clown shows right now,” Brown told Andy Staples on Andy Staples On3. “Different colored shirts, a bunch of people. The staff have become so big and there’s people that are just designed to do that. People have real systems. And so I think man, we need to clean that up.

“I’ve been a huge proponent of this, probably for the last three years, is the technology’s there. It makes no sense for us not to be able to do it. The helmet manufacturers are okay with it. We used it in the bowl game. It was very good for us. I could talk directly, as the play-caller, I talked directly to the quarterback. Our defense coordinator talked directly to the linebackers and safeties. The thing that probably surprised me, I knew the benefits offensively, how it’d benefit us. But it really helped us defensively.”

The idea of using technology gained steam after the Michigan situation came to light, and the NCAA allowed it for Bowl Season in 2023. However, Brown argued stealing signals was just one part of the issue.

The bigger problem, he said, was the in-person scouting ahead of time.

“To me, I think one of the issues we have in college football – and it was exposed by when you saw the Michigan stuff with the signals,” Brown said. “And to me, the sign stealing wasn’t as big an issue as the advanced scouting. I think that kind of got lost. Like, I think everybody’s probably trying to steal signs, signals at some point … in games. But the thing that took it over the top was the supposed filming, I don’t know, and the advanced scouting piece. That’s what made it a little different.”

Neal Brown: Bowl game technology rules were different than the NFL’s

Neal Brown said there were a few differences from the NFL’s system, though. At the professional level, the microphones cut off with 15 seconds left on the play clock, while WVU’s didn’t cut off at all during the Mayo Bowl against North Carolina.

There’s also communication between the defensive coordinator and players on the field, although Brown said West Virginia didn’t use that aspect of the technology in the victory over UNC. In fact, he’s looking forward to the idea of iPads on the sidelines.

“We didn’t signal at all on defense in the bowl game,” Brown said. “Our linebackers talked to the D line, and their safeties talked to the corners, and that’s how we did it. It was really effective. I really do believe it’s gonna get passed, and it should.

“The key is, is how many units are going to be on the field at one time? Is there a cut-off or not? But I think you’ll see that and other technology pieces go through – having access to iPads on the sideline and those type of things.”

Regulating the technology is another part of the implementation. If things are like they were in the bowl game without a shut-off time, Brown said it might be best to leave it up to coaches and players about when to stop communicating. That’s how he handled it with Garrett Greene, and it worked out pretty well.

“To me, I think the less restrictions you put on it the better because then you don’t have to police it as much,” Neal Brown said. “What we did is when we got into our real North Carolina prep for the game is I started – we used it for the lead-up the week that we practice vs. North Carolina here, and then we did it for the week we were in Charlotte preparing for the bowl game. The first couple days we did it, I just told Garrett, I was like, ‘Hey, listen, you’re not gonna hurt my feelings. Just tell me what’s enough and what’s not enough.’ He gave me some good feedback.

“And essentially, what I did is I gave him the play and then, if I wanted to remind him something, if it feel like we were doing a protection I wanted to remind him who was hot was, I would say that. And that was about it. I didn’t talk to him much other than that.”