The hiring of West Virginia’s 35th head football coach on a 6 year, $19.05million deal is one that should bring great excitement. After all, Google’s full of “How the Troy Trojans knocked off…” or “How Neal Brown upset…” headlines.

The job Brown did at Troy was remarkable. In 2017, Brown spoke of the challenges of that task: “We’re running this like a Power 5 program on a Group of 5 budget. You just have to be creative. We just find a way.” Brown consistently found a way: after going 4-8 in his first season, Brown went a combined 31-8 the following three years. The highlights were upsetting #25 LSU 24-21 in 2017 and shocking Nebraska 24-19 in 2018. Troy nearly bested #2 Clemson too, but fell in a 2016 30-24 loss.

Even before his days of Head Coaching, Brown was an accomplished offensive play caller. That’s best summed up by Bill Connelly: “[Brown] had three top-40 offenses at Texas Tech despite Tommy Tuberville being his boss, and as Kentucky’s play-caller, he took a unit that had averaged a No. 102 Off. S&P+ ranking in the two years before his arrival and averaged a No. 75 ranking over two years.”

Brown’s experience in Big 12 and SEC football is a valuable tool. He’s a schemer that brings a level of continuity by following the Air Raid offense. But everywhere he’s been he has stolen plays, adapted to his team’s talents and evolved as a playcaller. This deeper understanding and relative flexibility makes Brown a fantastic hire.