Football coach Neal Brown's job is safe, WVU announces

West Virginia football coach Neal Brown will keep his job for the time being, a decision made Wednesday soon after new athletic director Wren Baker’s hiring was announced.

Brown has a 22-25 record, the worst four-year stretch at West Virginia since the football team went 17-27 under Frank Cignetti from 1976-79.

The Mountaineers won two of their final three games to finish 5-7 season, the second time they failed to become bowl eligible under Brown and the fourth time since 2000. Brown’s West Virginia teams have never cracked the AP Top 25 poll or finished higher than fifth in the Big 12.

But Baker, West Virginia President Gordon Gee, interim athletic director Rob Alsop and others decided to spare Brown, for now. A statement issued by the university gave no specific timetable. Brown has four years remaining on his contract that included about a $17 million buyout if he were fired.

Alsop said he and Gee were impressed with the team’s efforts in the final weeks of the season. Alsop said Baker and Brown “have already connected relating to the future of the program. As a result of all of these efforts and discussions, it is clear that Coach Brown should continue to lead our football program.”

Earlier Wednesday, West Virginia named Baker, the North Texas athletic director, to the same position with the Mountaineers. He replaces Shane Lyons, who was fired earlier this month. Baker was given a six-year contract that will pay him $1.1 million annually, plus incentives, the university said in a statement. Baker will start on Dec. 19.

When West Virginia started 0-2 this season with close losses to Pittsburgh and Kansas, Lyons took a wait-and-see approach to Brown. But West Virginia had seen enough of Lyons after nearly eight years on the job. Gee then said that no other changes would be made until after a new athletic director was hired.

West Virginia finished next-to-last in the Big 12 both in scoring at 30.6 points per game and scoring defense at 32.9. A defense that grabbed just four interceptions had been patched together after several key veterans entered the transfer portal early this year.