Opposing Big 12 Coaches Anonymously Give Thoughts on West Virginia
West Virginia is coming off their best season in the five years under head coach Neal Brown, getting to eight wins in the regular season and capping things off with a win over North Carolina in the Duke's Mayo Bowl.
In an Athlon Sports article, Big 12 coaches anonymously weighed in on other programs throughout the league, and for Brown and the Mountaineers they received mostly positive, but mixed reviews.
This time last year Brown was on the hot seat and one year later his contract was extended by a year and there is a lot of positive momentum swirling around Morgantown.
One coach commended Brown for how he handled last season, saying Brown "never showed any strain of the hot seat."
Another coach compared where Brown has WVU currently to where he positioned Troy. Brown went 4-8 in his first season at Troy but then put three seasons together where Troy had at least 10 wins. Brown didn't have any more than six wins in a season through his first four seasons at West Virginia, before last year's showing.
"There are a lot of similarities to Neal’s time at Troy; he’s going to build and find that right culture, and then it takes off. They could be a surprise contender for the league title if everything goes right on offense," one coach said.
Speaking of offense, there is hype starting to build around quarterback Garrett Greene.
Greene was a big part of WVU's turnaround last season, and returns with a lot of weapons around him.
"It’s hard to tell how much they’ve turned the corner; a lot of that depends on if they can help Garrett Greene elevate. He could be a top quarterback in the nation if there’s support around him," one coach said.
Greene will be getting help from a lot of young playmakers, which one coach recognized. A group that includes Jahiem White, Traylon Ray and Rodney Gallagher among others on offense were all true freshman or had limited playing experience. One coach said some of those guys could be in for a big 2024.
"A lot of those freshmen last year could really break out this year," a coach said.
Lastly on the defensive side of the ball is where WVU struggled at times last season.
It was certainly a lot of good mixed with some bad for WVU on defense last season, but they return a lot of pieces. One coach commented on the pieces they return, questioning how good some of those guys can be.
"Defensively they’re returning a lot of guys who were decent last year, not spectacular," one coach said.
The Mountaineers were picked to finish last in the Preseason Big 12 Poll a year ago, and now they appear to have turned a corner. How big of a turn they make is what's to be determined.
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