Neal Brown doesn’t have any questions where football sits in the pecking order of team sports.
And as a former three-sport athlete in high school in Kentucky, Brown has experience in many of the different options – even more when you consider his involvement with his children and their activities.
But football has a special place to him and it’s not only because that’s the path he followed. That’s not a knock on any of the other sports, as Brown is a fan of it all. But it’s just different.
“This game teaches more than any other game,” he said.
Brown recalls growing up and being a part of a team from the time he was five years old and many of the life lessons that he learned came from his time spent in athletic activities. But where football differs is that it’s the only sport where your well-being is dependent on others.
And beyond that there are the team-building exercises such as enduring the heat during the summer to prepare for a season to playing in less-than-ideal weather conditions in the late fall and winter.
“You have to learn life skills on how to be a good teammate. I just feel really strongly,” he said.
How strongly? When asked about concerns over football and some of the things that come with it when it comes to his son possibly playing the game someday, he always answers it the same.
“My answer is always ‘man, I really hope so.’ I really, really hope so. I’m not going to make him play but I hope he plays because I think there’s some life lessons and some lessons on being a man that I don’t think you get anywhere else,” Brown said.
Brown certainly acknowledges the risks, but there are risks associated with everything. He also understands that the numbers of kids playing the sport is in decline across the country. That’s why it’s important to do things in order to keep the game alive and connect with a younger crowd.
One of those is the fan day events, which allows current players to interact and meet with kids.
Brown also doesn’t deny that the landscape of college athletics continues to change but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a bad thing. People are creatures of habit and get used to the way things have always been but just because they are becoming different, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s worse.
That extends to conference realignment as well as the Big 12 will grown to 16-teams in time for the 2024 season when Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State join the league. Those teams aren’t necessarily regional options for the Mountaineers but helped to bring even more stability to a league that has been rocked with issues in that department that pre-date the Mountaineers even becoming members.
“We’re looking at basically four conferences now and they’re spread coast to coast. They’re different, but maybe they can be better?” Brown said.
But it's a dog eat dog world and it's much better to be the one doing the eating.
Time will tell, but Brown is hopeful that the game continues to mold people as it’s done for years before.
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