West Virginia head coach Neal Brown understands that he can only control what he can control.

But he understands that topics outside of his reach are at the forefront of many people’s minds given the situation with conference realignment and COVID-19.

West Virginia, as well as the other remaining seven members of the Big 12, are still waiting for things to settle and which direction things will head after Texas and Oklahoma elected to leave the league and move to the SEC. That move isn’t expected to occur until 2025, but still has the possibility to upend the conference landscape once again depending on what other dominoes fall.

And while potential conference scenarios and other topics surrounding the subject might run rampant with the fanbase, Brown has had a simple message for his team.

“I have no crystal ball; I have no idea how it’s going to play out but what I do know is West Virginia for a really long time has been in a bunch of different conferences and played at a really high level,” he said. “And the success of our men’s basketball program, and football program will dictate that we’ll be in a good landing spot. I can’t project what that looks like but for the foreseeable future we’re in the Big 12 and it’s not going to affect anything we do this year.”

The 2021 edition of the Mountaineers football team is looking to build off a 6-4 campaign that included a win over Army in the Liberty Bowl. But the football program is shooting higher, and Brown believes that he has a good mixture of both veterans and youth.

“Our youth is hungry, and our leadership is better and that’s not a knock on anybody that’s been here before, but our leadership has been in our program for three years and they have a better understanding of what we need to do,” he said.

As far as something that very well could have an effect on this season, Brown remains cognizant of the threat of the COVID-19 virus. The issue cropped up last season causing the Mountaineers to miss an already rescheduled game with Oklahoma, and it continues to be a trouble nationwide.

And now with the delta variant causing havoc in sectors throughout the nation, Brown is aware of the threats that the virus still presents.

“We’re still using precautions. We have a high number, almost every staff member is vaccinated, and a high percentage of our team is vaccinated but not everyone. My preference would be for everyone to be vaccinated but each individual has a choice, and we don’t have 100-percent yet,” he said.

In the meantime, Brown said that all unvaccinated players continue to wear masks while the team as a whole practices social distancing with indoor meetings.

“We’re still taking it seriously,” he said.

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