Neal Brown explains why he thinks voting in the Coaches' Poll matters
Very little was expected out of Neal Brown and West Virginia coming into the 2023 season. However, now sitting at 4-1, the Mountaineers are off to a hot start that isn’t being recognized yet.
After that hot start, Brown thinks that West Virginia should be ranked. However, the Mountaineers got very little respect in the polls, despite Brown ranking West Virginia where he believes they should be in the Coaches’ Poll. On top of that, he also insisted that voting on the poll is an important thing for coaches to do.
“I think two things,” Neal Brown said. “I vote on the Coaches’ Poll, and I voted us in because I really believe that we should be and I think that sometimes the Coaches’ Poll is really hard and get a lot of help from [Mike] Montoro because he does a really good job of keeping me educated on results and who plays well. We spend some time on it Sunday and I’m not sure if everybody does that. I don’t [want to] say if they do or they don’t.”
Neal Brown pointed out that West Virginia’s first two wins in Big 12 play were against tough teams that he feels were high-quality wins.
“You look at Texas Tech. Where’s Oregon ranked? They’re in the top 10, right? Texas Tech’s beating them and Oregon scores within the last minute of the half. So, a victory over Texas Tech here, and I know they’re 2-3, but that’s a really quality win, especially if Oregon’s in the top 10. Then, going on the road at TCU is a really quality win.
Part of the problem, Neal Brown thinks, is that the Big 12 is underrated nationally as a whole.
“So, I just think sometimes our league is underappreciated. We only have two teams, maybe three, who are in. I think our league is underappreciated and some of that is we didn’t take care of business in the out of conference like we should have, or non-conference like we should have, probably,” Brown said.
“So, I’m not saying that’s not unfair but I do, taking who we’ve played, yeah, I do think we’re one of the top 25 teams, but it’s just something else. Like, we’ve kind of been underappreciated, not respected, this whole time, so this kind of falls in line. So, we’ll have a couple more opportunities.”
Big 12 play is in full swing for Neal Brown and West Virginia, with the Mountaineers traveling to Houston after a bye week.
Nick Saban admits staff members help with Coaches’ Poll
During his weekly press conference after beating Mississippi State, Alabama head coach Nick Saban spoke about his focus being on making the team better. In doing so, he seemed to admit that he doesn’t actually fill out the Coaches’ Poll himself.
“That’s all I care about, and I think that’s my job,” Nick Saban said. “So, we’ve got guys like this guy over here (pointing off camera), who can do standings and rankings and put a poll together and say who should be this and that, and he’s good at that. I thank him for it. Just less time I have to spend doing it.”
Neal Brown may not want to accuse other coaches of not filling out the ballot themselves. However, it does happen. Seemingly, Saban admitted to being one of those coaches who doesn’t.