College football: 5 head coaches heading into spring 2023 on the hot seat

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Nov 12, 2022; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Neal Brown before the game against the Oklahoma Sooners at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports /

A lot of people, including myself, were shocked that Neal Brown wasn’t let go after the 2022 season in which the Mountaineers went 5-7. It was the fourth straight season in which West Virginia finished with either six or five wins and while that’s a model of consistency, it’s not the kind of consistency that Mountaineer fans want to see.

Brown was hired at West Virginia to replace Dana Holgorsen after a three-year stretch at Troy in which he won 10-plus games each year. He looked like a true program builder.

In his first year at West Virginia, he went 5-7 and the Mountaineers finished seventh in the Big 12. He improved that to 6-4, a Liberty Bowl win, and a fifth-place finish in the Big 12 in 2020. And then West Virginia made its second straight bowl in 2021 and all seemed to be trending in the right direction. The 2022 season would be a make-or-break year for Brown.

It broke him.

The Mountaineers added JT Daniels at quarterback which was supposed to improve the offense, but West Virginia actually took a step back and finished 5-7, missing a bowl game.

A 22-25 record overall and 14-21 mark in conference play is not good enough for WVU.

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