Trust The Climb

[Slaton10]

Things should improve as Coach Brown gets a feel for the program. While at Troy he often was able to pull off stunning upsets (like at LSU a couple of years ago, vs Clemson in 2016) or near-upsets (the 30-24 loss at Clemson in 2016). But he would often follow with an inexplicable loss the following week (35-3 home loss to Arkansas St. the week after the App. St. win & a 19-8 home loss to South Alabama the week after beating LSU).

Brown inherited a pretty crappy team at Troy that had gone through 3 losing seasons & one break-even season in the four years before his arrival, and had to play road games against N.C. State, Wisconsin, Mississippi St., and Appalachian St. in his first season as head coach. After finishing that first year at 4-8 and going 2-3 at home and 1-5 on the road, his next three teams went 10-3, 11-2, and 10-3, and went 15-3 at home and 12-3 on the road.

He also inherited a crap situation at West Virginia, and with a tougher slate of foes & a shortage of scholarship players on hand, it could take until year three or four until any real progress is noticeable.

Well the truth lies somewhere in the middle with the team he inherited. He had 10 scholarship players hit the transfer portal...one of them an all BIG12 Safety...but I hope your right..he has can sprinkle that same magic dust on this program...but at the end of the day he ain't in the Sunbelt anymore..

 

[Mike]

I'm guessing whoever started this post may have seen a little light at the end of the tunnel when the Mountaineers closed the season with two road wins in their last three games? After all, WV was only a touchdown away from bowl eligibility, and only a FG away from forcing Baylor into overtime. The 'eers did have to contend with a lot of injuries this season.

Maybe a little light, on the defense yes, the offence not so much, Doege was a step up, but Brown was right Kendall was not the problem. I just don't understand how the strength of the Offense became the biggest weakness, there was NO improvement at all in the run game. We have tallant there, but where did it go? I hope Brown can really walk on water, but the recruiting doesn't look like it is improving, but the next class will be the one that will tell the talent that Brown and company can bring in. I'm hoping it gets better but I am a realist also....

 

[WVUDAD]

Maybe a little light, on the defense yes, the offence not so much, Doege was a step up, but Brown was right Kendall was not the problem. I just don't understand how the strength of the Offense became the biggest weakness, there was NO improvement at all in the run game. We have tallant there, but where did it go? I hope Brown can really walk on water, but the recruiting doesn't look like it is improving, but the next class will be the one that will tell the talent that Brown and company can bring in. I'm hoping it gets better but I am a realist also....

I think kendall's part of the problem, looks like he is slow on the handoff. BUT, the biggest problem this year was the offensive line!!! Horrible play all season, there was a hand on the running back in the backfield on every play. Neither the talent nor coaching of the bigs was up to muster.

 

[GoldRusher]

I blame our brutal SOS. Look at this crap, our “cupcake” should be in the P5 playoff...

Northern Iowa vs. James Madison - Game Summary - December 13, 2019 - ESPN

 

[bbwvfan]

Things should improve as Coach Brown gets a feel for the program. While at Troy he often was able to pull off stunning upsets (like at LSU a couple of years ago, vs Clemson in 2016) or near-upsets (the 30-24 loss at Clemson in 2016). But he would often follow with an inexplicable loss the following week (35-3 home loss to Arkansas St. the week after the App. St. win & a 19-8 home loss to South Alabama the week after beating LSU).

Brown inherited a pretty crappy team at Troy that had gone through 3 losing seasons & one break-even season in the four years before his arrival, and had to play road games against N.C. State, Wisconsin, Mississippi St., and Appalachian St. in his first season as head coach. After finishing that first year at 4-8 and going 2-3 at home and 1-5 on the road, his next three teams went 10-3, 11-2, and 10-3, and went 15-3 at home and 12-3 on the road.

He also inherited a crap situation at West Virginia, and with a tougher slate of foes & a shortage of scholarship players on hand, it could take until year three or four until any real progress is noticeable.

He inherited a program that was going to be in rebuild mode... no doubt. I don't know why one would say it was a crap situation. He had some talent to work with, unfortunately... they were FR and RS FR.

Today... I sit on the fence. I'm rooting for Neal to do well at WVU. I'm not sure if his philosophy... or what I believe it to be... is a winning formula in the Big 12... or even on the biggest stage. No doubt, WVU's defense kept us in games and gave us a chance to win. But, his offense was historically bad this year.

This off season, he has said he will look at the offense and try to find what worked and simplify things. With such an inexperienced unit, I don't know why this wasn't his plan last January when he took the HC position.

Most new HC's get a big jump in recruiting. He has basically maintained it. If he doesn't improve the recruiting substantially, we will remain a middle or lower Big 12 program.

 

[Anotherwvufan]

Today... I sit on the fence. I'm rooting for Neal to do well at WVU. I'm not sure if his philosophy... or what I believe it to be... is a winning formula in the Big 12... or even on the biggest stage. No doubt, WVU's defense kept us in games and gave us a chance to win. But, his offense was historically bad this year.


BBW, I felt the same way about RR several years ago.

On recruiting- I think we are well prepared to raid the transfer portal. This is where I expect our recruiting bump to come from.

Our offense sucked, but I will trust the climb for another 3 years before I complain too much.

 

[bbwvfan]

Today... I sit on the fence. I'm rooting for Neal to do well at WVU. I'm not sure if his philosophy... or what I believe it to be... is a winning formula in the Big 12... or even on the biggest stage. No doubt, WVU's defense kept us in games and gave us a chance to win. But, his offense was historically bad this year.


BBW, I felt the same way about RR several years ago.

On recruiting- I think we are well prepared to raid the transfer portal. This is where I expect our recruiting bump to come from.

Our offense sucked, but I will trust the climb for another 3 years before I complain too much.

We only have 22 spots for this year’s class since Neal used up 3 schollies from the ‘20 class to fill in some voids last summer. I don’t think there will be much room for transfers out of the portal... maybe 1 or 2? Depends on whether we get another DE and RB to sign with us between now and February.

In many ways, this transition... in terms of pain when watching... difficulty to execute... is like that of the transition between Nehlen and Rodriguez. To my inbred brain... that transition was understandable.

This transition from Dana to Neal was surprisingly difficult. I have no understanding...

I spoke to Slaton about this when we were last together for the Okie St game... but, this offense of Neal’s seems more like what Mullen tried to do for us. He wanted to be multiple. It was a mess. We were always close...

It was always a mess...

I think Neal wants to be multiple. And, it’s a mess. His offenses at Troy were average in terms of scoring... a little above average in total yds.

Average offenses in the Big 12 have come close to winning the conference... ISU and UT last year. I’m unsure if it’s the right way to go. Mullen is out of a job...

 

[Slaton10]

We only have 22 spots for this year’s class since Neal used up 3 schollies from the ‘20 class to fill in some voids last summer. I don’t think there will be much room for transfers out of the portal... maybe 1 or 2? Depends on whether we get another DE and RB to sign with us between now and February.

In many ways, this transition... in terms of pain when watching... difficulty to execute... is like that of the transition between Nehlen and Rodriguez. To my inbred brain... that transition was understandable.

This transition from Dana to Neal was surprisingly difficult. I have no understanding...

I spoke to Slaton about this when we were last together for the Okie St game... but, this offense of Neal’s seems more like what Mullen tried to do for us. He wanted to be multiple. It was a mess. We were always close...

It was always a mess...

I think Neal wants to be multiple. And, it’s a mess. His offenses at Troy were average in terms of scoring... a little above average in total yds.

Average offenses in the Big 12 have come close to winning the conference... ISU and UT last year. I’m unsure if it’s the right way to go. Mullen is out of a job...

Didn't see Sills hitting the Transfer Portal coming....big loss

 

[mad2mc]

Martell Pettaway also hit the portal. Tevita Finau on Twitter. What is this world coming to?

 

[GoldRusher]

From Chris Anderson over on 247 sports


"WVU is coming off a 5-7 season with a limited number of scholarships available in this class and just held off Florida, Georgia, and Ole Miss for a top wideout, and got a commitment from a DL with 29 offers who hadn't visited in six months. The current class is just one one-thousandth (0.0010) of a point from having the highest average recruit rating in program history. Currently, 0.8638 while the highest average was 0.8646 in 2010."

 

[bbwvfan]

Great work by the staff to out compete some noteworthy programs to secure the LOI today. Good stuff!!

Trust the climb...

 

[Anotherwvufan]

37 in the country, 4th in the B12 and one of the highest averages ever for recruiting. Not too bad for a WV coach who just had a 5- 7 season.

 

[Mike]

37 in the country, 4th in the B12 and one of the highest averages ever for recruiting. Not too bad for a WV coach who just had a 5- 7 season.

and didn't have a full recruiting cycle, can't wait to see the improvement next year.........Trust The Climb!!!

 

[Mike]

Martell Pettaway also hit the portal. Tevita Finau on Twitter. What is this world coming to?

Does Tevita have eligibility left?

 

[WVUDAD]

and didn't have a full recruiting cycle, can't wait to see the improvement next year.........Trust The Climb!!!

That is something many have forgotten, our former coach bailed at an awkward time, in between signing days...Brown will lead us to new heights, if he doesn't get greedy or big headed and bolt for "greener" pastures

 

[BamaDude]

That is something many have forgotten, our former coach bailed at an awkward time, in between signing days...Brown will lead us to new heights, if he doesn't get greedy or big headed and bolt for "greener" pastures

I don't think greener pastures will come calling until he has had a chance to establish something there at WV. And, besides that, this was something of a dream job for him.

 

[Anotherwvufan]

Does Tevita have eligibility left?

I think that Holgs is going after him to boost his #83 recruiting ranking.

83
78

Houston
14 Commits
83.89

• 0
• 0
• 13

148.47

 

[Slaton10]

Nice first run at recruiting! The program needed it!

 

[mad2mc]

I think that Holgs is going after him to boost his #83 recruiting ranking.

83
78

Houston
14 Commits
83.89

• 0
• 0
• 13

148.47

Worked for Stewart!