West Virginia coach Neal Brown is facing criticism over his recent comments aimed at the Mountaineers’ frustrated fan base, whom he urged to continue supporting the team because of the “good time” they have at home games.
West Virginia fell to 3-3 with Saturday night’s nationally televised home loss to No. 9 Iowa State. It was the eighth consecutive loss against a ranked opponent for the Mountaineers, who squandered an early lead against the undefeated Cyclones and failed to capitalize on the raucous environment at Milan Puskar Stadium.
With another prime-time home game on tap for Saturday night — this time against No. 17 Kansas State, Brown was asked Monday whether he had a message to fans who are upset with West Virginia’s uneven performance this season.
“I get that they want to win,” Brown said. “But what I would say is, did they have a good time? Did they enjoy it? It was a pretty good atmosphere. You know, I’m assuming they probably had a pretty good time tailgating.
“So if they’re in the deal for enjoyment, then I would come back. I looked at the weather, and it’s going to be nice again. It’s a night game, and we need them to provide a home-field advantage.”
Fans have since responded angrily to Brown’s comments, prompting the reporter who asked the question Monday to post on social media that he “honestly didn’t plan to stir anything up. I thought it was a simple question.”
Brown is 34-32 in his five-plus seasons at West Virginia. The Mountaineers were a popular preseason pick to win the Big 12 this season after going 9-4 last year — their highest single-season win total since 2016. But West Virginia was routed by No. 3 Penn State in its season opener and also suffered a 38-34 loss at rival Pittsburgh last month.
Brown said Monday that the Mountaineers have faced a “tough schedule” and noted that the three teams that have beaten West Virginia all remain undefeated.
“That’s not an excuse; it’s just the truth,” Brown said. “The games in our league are going to come down to the fourth quarter, and I don’t think this on one Saturday’s going to be any different.
“So we need [the fans] to help us. I do get their frustration. But I don’t think when you watch our product, I don’t think the product is something that they should be — other than the outcome … it was an entertaining football game. If you’re a football fan and just watching that, it’s pretty entertaining. We just didn’t play well enough to win. So I hope with that in mind, they would come back for another entertaining game that hopefully we can play better at the end and win.”