Baylor’s coaching search already has a familiar name in the mix.
After the Bears dropped their second straight game and fell to 4-3, they moved on from head coach Dave Aranda over the weekend. Since then, candidates have started to pile up, and former West Virginia head coach Neal Brown is one of the names that has surfaced.
Craig Meyer of USA Today included Brown among seven possible fits for Baylor, and he’s not the only one linking Brown to the opening.
Brown’s first season at North Texas has turned heads. He stepped into a stripped-down program after Eric Morris took many of the key pieces with him to Oklahoma State, yet the Mean Green are 5-2 and boasting the nation’s No. 2 scoring offense at 43.1 points per game.
The attack is aggressive, productive, and built in a way that could feel familiar to Baylor fans who remember the program’s best offensive stretches. Brown also brings six seasons of Big 12 experience from his time at West Virginia.
That said, his Mountaineers record - 37-35 - could be enough to give a same-conference program pause, especially one operating with relatively similar NIL resources.
Still, one year at North Texas may not be enough to push Brown into serious contention for a Power Four job. He has done strong work there, but he’s also inheriting the kind of momentum Eric Morris built rather than starting completely from scratch in a clean slate situation.
The offensive production at North Texas has only added to the buzz. If the Drew Mestemaker/Caleb Hawkins pairing was impressive, Brown has taken things further with Tayven Jackson and Jahiem White.
Brown’s resume will keep him on lists like this, and his success at North Texas will absolutely put him back on the radar of Power Four programs. But for now, it feels like he may need another year or two before getting a second shot at that level.
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For a program trying to build a March rsum, the margin for error is already thin. A strong run through nonconference play would give WVU a chance to stack meaningful wins before the league grind begins, while a rough stretch could leave the Mountaineers chasing quality victories for the rest of the winter. If they can come out of this opening stretch with only a few losses, the path to the tournament picture gets a lot cleaner. [Read more 🡒]