At the beginning of this month, Neal Brown was fired as head football coach at West Virginia. Brown was 37-34 in six season at the helm of the Mountaineers. Here is a look at the West Virginia Mountaineers
football program since 2008 (the
first year that in which I have data for the model).
This time period only covers the last three seasons of head football
coach Bill Stewart (2007-2010), Dana Holgorsen (2011-2018), and Neal Brown (2019-2024). After the figure
below is a more
detailed look at
the West Virginia Mountaineers football program during head coach Brown's
tenure based on the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model using data provided by www.cfbstats.com. (The vertical school color bars represent seasons where head coaches changed).
Neal Brown [2019-2024]
2019
The Mountaineers finished the regular season at 5-7, while playing against an “average” strength
of schedule (SOS); meaning that West Virginia's SOS was plus or
minus one standard deviation of the "leagues" average SOS. West Virginia's best win
was against #42 ranked Kansas State by a
score of (24-20) and their worst loss was to #83 ranked Texas Tech
by a
score of (17-38). West Virginia was the #113 ranked team overall, with the #120 ranked
offense and the #79 ranked defense using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model from the data provided from www.cfbstats.com.
2020
The Mountaineers finished the COVID shortened regular season at 5-4, and played their post-season bowl game against #26 Army where they won by a score of (24-21). West Virginia played against an “average” strength
of schedule (SOS). West Virginia's
best win
was against #36 ranked TCU by a
score of (24-6) and their worst loss was to #82 ranked Texas Tech by a
score of (27-34). West Virginia was the #33 ranked team overall, with the #47 ranked
offense and the #49 ranked defense using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model from the data provided from www.cfbstats.com.
West Virginia finished the regular season at 6-6,while playing against an “average” strength
of schedule (SOS). West Virginia was defeated by #40 ranked Minnesota in the post-season by a score of
(6-18) to finish the season at 6-7 overall. The Mountaineers' best win
was against #14 ranked Iowa State by a
score of (38-31) and their worst loss was to #76 ranked Texas Tech by a
score of (20-23). West Virginia was the #67 ranked team overall, with the #85 ranked
offense and the #36 ranked defense using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model from the data provided from www.cfbstats.com.
2022
The Mountaineers finished the regular season at 5-7, while playing against a “tougher” strength
of schedule (SOS); meaning that the Chippewas SOS was between one
and two standard deviations lower than the "leagues" average SOS. West Virginia's
best win
was against #46 ranked Baylor by a
score of (43-40) and their worst loss (for the fourth year in a row) was to #72 ranked Texas Tech by a
score of (10-48). West Virginia was the #104 ranked team overall, with the #80 ranked
offense and the #105 ranked defense using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model from the data provided from www.cfbstats.com.
2023
The Mountaineers finished the regular season at 8-4, while playing against an “average” strength
of schedule (SOS). They defeated #29 ranked North Carolina by a score of (30-10) in their post-season bowl game to finish the season overall at 9-4. West Virginia's
best win
was against #40 ranked UCF by a
score of (41-28) and their worst loss was to #116 ranked Houston by a
score of (39-41). West Virginia was the #53 ranked team overall, with the #47 ranked
offense and the #68 ranked defense using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model from the data provided from www.cfbstats.com.
2024
Head
coach Brown was fired at the end of the regular season where the Mountaineers were 6-6 overall. The Mountaineers played
against an “average”
strength
of schedule (SOS). At the time of Brown's firing West Virginia's best win
was against #55 ranked UCF and their
worst loss was again to #80 ranked Texas Tech. West Virginia was the #104 ranked team overall, with the #79 ranked
offense and the #116 ranked defense using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model from the data provided from www.cfbstats.com.
2024 FBS Head Coach Changes
Central Michigan and Jim McElwain