
West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Neal Brown looks on during the game against Oklahoma State Cowboys on Saturday.
MORGANTOWN — Neal Brown is expected to return to the sidelines at West Virginia in 2023, according to multiple sources.
Speculation about Browns job security started to swirl after the Mountaineers parted ways with Athletic Director Shane Lyons in early November, who had been with the school since 2015.
Sources told ATP that a new Athletic Director is expected to be announced as early as next week and will establish a rapport with all athletics coaches and is not expected to make an immediate decision on Neal Brown.
Brown’s buyout after the regular season — expected to be nearly $17 million — looms over the WVU athletic department, but ATP is told that is not what is keeping Brown on the sidelines in 2023. Although there is offset language in the contract that could lessen that amount for WVU, there has been aggressive second-guessing of the school giving Brown an extension in April 2021, when he had a record of 11-11. That pushed his deal through 2026 and guaranteed a large portion of the contract.