Neal Brown  Neal Harmon Brown (born March 11, 1980) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at West Virginia University. Brown was previously the head coach at Troy University from 2015–2018. Brown has also previously served as the offensive coordinator at Troy (2008–2009) and Texas Tech University (2010–2012) and the University of Kentucky (2013–2014). Brown attended Boyle County High School in Danville, Kentucky, where he was an all-state wide receiver, baseball, and basketball player. He played football at the University of Kentucky under head coach Hal Mumme and his assistants, Mike Leach and Tony Franklin, before transferring to the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Brown started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at UMass. Before joining Larry Blakeney's staff at Troy to work under Tony Franklin, he spent one-year assistant coaching stints at UMass, Sacred Heart, and Delaware. Following Franklin's departure to Auburn at the end of the 2007 regular season, Brown was promoted to offensive coordinator at Troy. When he was hired, he became the youngest coordinator in all FBS football. On January 12, 2010, Brown was announced as the offensive coordinator at Texas Tech under new Red Raiders head coach Tommy Tuberville. During the 2010 football season, the Red Raider offense performed well. During his tenure at Texas Tech, Brown perfected his NASCAR spread offense. The offense created by Brown focused on players running to the line immediately after the play and quickly snapping the ball before the defense could get set. The offense requires speed at every position to be run the way Brown envisions it. The focus of the offense was to snap the ball 8 seconds after the previous play. The 2010 Red Raiders ranked 15th in the country in total offense, 6th in passing offense, and 72nd in rushing offense. For his coaching performance during the 2011 41–38 upset victory over the then-ranked #3 Oklahoma Sooners, he was recognized by Rivals.com as National Coordinator of the Week. Brown was considered for the head coaching job at his alma mater, UMass, following the 2011 season. Brown was also considered for the school's head coaching job when it opened following the 2008 season. On December 9, 2012 it was reported after several weeks of speculation that Brown would return to his home state to coach the offense at Kentucky under new coach Mark Stoops. Troy announced Brown's hire on Sunday, November 30, 2014. In 2015, Brown's Trojans posted a 4–8 record.