Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Brown Introduces WVU’s 10 On-Field Football Aides
February 18, 2019 05:04 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University football coach Neal Brown officially introduced his 10 on-field assistants to the media this morning in the team room at the Milan Puskar Center.
Brown said the three main qualities he was seeking when putting together his first staff at WVU were men of character who are proven winners and proven recruiters.
He believes all 10 fit the bill.
"I'm really excited about this group," Brown said. "I appreciate (WVU director of athletics) Shane (Lyons) and our administration for making this happen because you can't hire quality people without resources.
"First and foremost, I was looking for men of character whose beliefs are aligned with our culture and are all-in on our philosophy of developing total Mountaineers," Brown explained.
The coach listed continuity, Big 12 coaching experience, Power 5 coaching experience and West Virginia University ties as some of the other qualities he was seeking.
Six out of the 10 guys check the continuity box while five of the 10 have Big 12 experience. Nine assistants have Power 5 experience and two, Jahmile Addae and Travis Trickett, have strong WVU ties.
"We were diligent," Brown explained. "I think it's important when you are putting together a staff to get it right, not necessarily worrying about timeframes."
In co-offensive coordinator Matt Moore, Brown is bringing to Morgantown a proven tactician with a strong understanding of Brown's coaching philosophies. The two have been together for eight years, including all four seasons at Troy.
Moore tutored left tackle Antonio Garcia, the highest drafted player in Sun Belt Conference history, and three times his Trojan offensive lines led college football in the fewest sacks allowed.
Moore also has Big 12 experience working five seasons at Texas Tech from 2007-11. He will recruit Morgantown, Fairmont, Beckley and Bluefield in West Virginia and will also cover Roanoke, Virginia, and the entire state of Tennessee.
West Virginia's other co-offensive coordinator is Chad Scott, who is also in charge of the Mountaineer running backs.
Last year, Scott coached at North Carolina in the ACC, and he's also had assistant coaching jobs in the SEC (Kentucky) and the Big 12 (Texas Tech).
"His position groups have always been highly productive; he has a great understanding of the run game and is nationally known for his recruiting prowess as well," Brown said.
Scott's recruiting territories will include Eastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey and the Orlando-Ocala areas in Northern Florida.
Former Clemson student aide Xavier Dye was recently hired to handle the Mountaineer outside receivers.
"He was a very good player at Clemson and spent the last two years on the staff there," Brown noted. "He comes highly recommended from Dabo Swinney and Jeff Scott, who I have a lot of respect for as far as receiver play. I think he's got a bright future in this game."
Dye is responsible for recruiting the Northern Washington, D.C., Baltimore areas as well as Delaware and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Sean Reagan, known for developing quarterbacks, will have the same responsibility at WVU. He has worked eight years with Brown at Texas Tech and Troy.
"If you look at the record books at Troy and the Sun Belt Conference, the quarterbacks under his tutelage are right at the top," Brown mentioned.
Reagan will have the critical job of developing Mountaineer quarterbacks Jack Allison, Trey Lowe III and Austin Kendall this spring. His primary recruiting responsibilities will be Huntington in-state and the entire state of Kentucky.
Inside receivers and tight ends coach Travis Trickett has deep local and WVU ties. The son of longtime offensive line coach Rick Trickett, Travis is a Morgantown High and WVU graduate who spent five years as a student assistant on Rich Rodriguez's Mountaineer staff in the mid-2000s.
After leaving West Virginia, Trickett served graduate assistantships under Jimbo Fisher and Nick Saban before getting his first full-time job at Samford. He's also worked at Florida Atlantic and most recently at Georgia State where he was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
"Travis has been offensive coordinator for the last seven years of his career and is highly regarded as a recruiter," Brown said.
Brown has assigned Trickett Parkersburg in-state as well as Columbus, Ohio, New York City/Northern New Jersey, Lackawanna College/Northeast Pennsylvania, Jacksonville and South Florida and Savannah, Georgia, as his recruiting responsibilities.
On the other side of the ball, Brown has assembled a formidable defensive staff led by veteran defensive coordinator Vic Koenning.
"Vic was a huge part of our success at Troy," Brown said. "The last three years his units have been at the top of our league and one of the top teams in the country in sacks, tackles for loss and takeaways. He's also got Big 12 experience at Kansas State as a coordinator."
Koenning will be responsible for recruiting Charleston and Bridgeport in-state as well as South Georgia.
Koenning's defensive room will have one name familiar to Mountaineer fans – secondary coach Jahmile Addae.
West Virginia's two-time All-Big East performer began his coaching career with Butch Jones at Cincinnati before branching out, first with Rich Rodriguez at Arizona and most recently at Minnesota working with P.J. Fleck.
Addae has spent the last three seasons coaching the secondary after overseeing Cincinnati's running backs for two years in 2010-11.
"He came highly recommended as a recruiter and as a teacher on the field," Brown said.
Addae will recruit West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle and will also be WVU's primary recruiter in Northern Virginia and Richmond. He will handle the Gainesville-Tallahassee areas in Florida in addition to Las Vegas, where he previously recruited.
Defensive line coach Jordan Lesley continues his tenure with Brown after spending the last four years together at Troy.
"Our defensive lines were highly productive, and Jordan coached multiple all-conference players the last three years," Brown noted.
Lesley's recruiting responsibilities are Mississippi junior colleges, Cincinnati-Dayton, Ohio, as well as Mobile, Alabama, Pensacola, Florida, and Gwinnett County in Georgia.
Another Troy defensive aide, Al Pogue, will handle West Virginia's outside linebackers. Pogue oversaw the secondary during his four seasons at Troy.
In 2018, Pogue's Trojan secondary ranked fifth nationally in interceptions and second over the last four seasons in takeaways. One of his top players, Blace Brown, tied for third nationally in career interceptions.
Pogue will be West Virginia's No. 1 recruiter in Western Pennsylvania and will also cover Detroit, Montgomery, Alabama, and Atlanta's northwestern counties.
And finally, former Kansas State defensive coordinator Blake Seiler will be working with WVU's inside linebackers this season.
Seiler has been coaching in the Big 12 for the past 10 seasons as a member of Bill Snyder's Wildcat staff.
"When I was a coordinator in this league he was a coach at Kansas State, and I was always impressed with how they played – they played with an edge," Brown explained. "He's got coordinator experience in this league, too, and he coached the defensive player of the year in the league in 2016 (Jordan Willis)."
Seiler will be responsible for Kansas and Iowa junior college recruiting and will take on the state's Northern Panhandle and Northeastern Ohio. He will also recruit the state of Louisiana as he did when he was at Kansas State.
Overall, Brown said he's excited about the group of assistant coaches he managed to assemble.
"We've got a lot of experience in this group, and there's a good mix between youth and experience. Like I said, my key factors were looking for good people, proven winners and proven recruiters," Brown concluded.
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