Photo by: WVU Athletic Communications
NFL Veteran Drew Fabianich to Bolster Mountaineer Football’s Scouting Department
August 03, 2023 03:00 PM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia's newest addition to the Mountaineer football staff has a title more common to professional football – general manager.
He's Drew Fabianich, a 37-year high school, college and pro football veteran, who replaces Matt Jansen after Jansen took a similar job at Notre Dame earlier this summer.
As colleges have begun adopting more of a professional model, Neal Brown thought it would be beneficial to enhance what Jansen started here by bringing in someone with extensive pro football experience.
Fabianich clearly fits the criteria.
He joined the Dallas Cowboys in 2003 as a regional scout and two years later was promoted to national scout. During his tenure with the Cowboys, they had one of the highest percentages of NFL Pro Bowlers drafted within their organization, 67 in all.
He also has SEC coaching experience on Phil Fulmer's staff at Tennessee and most recently was Auburn's general manager and director of scouting and development.
Fabianich's extensive experience was appealing to Brown, who discussed Fabianich's new role with the program earlier this week.
"He's a guy that I got a ton of positive feedback on from people that I trust," Brown said. "When we opened that position, it was non-negotiable that we wanted someone with NFL experience, and he's got 18-plus years of NFL experience at both the regional and the advanced scouting level."
Having someone on staff with extensive NFL experience has many benefits, Brown explains.
We wanted to bring in his NFL experience for multiple reasons, the first being instant credibility within our building and being able to communicate with our staff and our current roster what the NFL is looking for, how they evaluate and what the individual player needs to do to continue to grow to put themselves in a position to play in the National Football League.
"Then, having the scouting background, which is essentially what you're doing in the portal," Brown continued. "You are taking the NFL model from a scouting perspective and applying it to a little bit younger guy at the college level."
If you look at West Virginia's current roster, roughly one-fifth of it is comprised of players who began their college careers at other schools, so having someone with Fabianich's experience and expertise who can devote more time to evaluating transfer portal prospects is vitally important.
He can also evaluate West Virginia's roster needs and work with Brown on all aspects of roster management, which is basically what general managers are doing in professional football.
Brown said he's pleased with the growth and development the scouting department has made since its creation under Jansen, and he envisions even greater growth under Fabianich's leadership.
"As college football has changed and evolved, I think our personnel department has really changed and evolved, and now we truly have a scouting department that's really focused on college scouting of the transfer portal window," Brown said. "Then, we have high school recruiting that's obviously aimed at high school and junior college recruiting, and Matt was a big part of growing that.
"So, I wanted somebody with experience because I want us to continue to develop the people within that department," Brown added.
Fabianich has already hit the ground running. He arrived last week in time for the opening day of preseason camp on Wednesday.
"I'm excited about him," Brown said. "He's going to be a big benefit, not only to me, but I think to our players here and helping us continue to grow within the portal."
Earlier today, West Virginia had its second non-padded practice of preseason camp on the Steve Antoline Family Practice Field. Coordinators Jordan Lesley and Chad Scott were made available to the media afterward. Media members were also permitted to watch the first hour of practice.
The team will have a closed practice on Friday morning and select players will be available to the media afterward. Those interviews will be posted on our official YouTube channel, WVUsports.
Fan Day is slated for 9:30 to 11 a.m. on Saturday morning in the stadium concourse. Players and coaches will be available for autographs and then fans are invited to stick around to watch and open practice that is scheduled to last until 12:45 p.m.
Coach Neal Brown will offer his post-practice remarks to wrap up the first week of preseason camp.
He's Drew Fabianich, a 37-year high school, college and pro football veteran, who replaces Matt Jansen after Jansen took a similar job at Notre Dame earlier this summer.
As colleges have begun adopting more of a professional model, Neal Brown thought it would be beneficial to enhance what Jansen started here by bringing in someone with extensive pro football experience.
Fabianich clearly fits the criteria.
He joined the Dallas Cowboys in 2003 as a regional scout and two years later was promoted to national scout. During his tenure with the Cowboys, they had one of the highest percentages of NFL Pro Bowlers drafted within their organization, 67 in all.
He also has SEC coaching experience on Phil Fulmer's staff at Tennessee and most recently was Auburn's general manager and director of scouting and development.
Fabianich's extensive experience was appealing to Brown, who discussed Fabianich's new role with the program earlier this week.
"He's a guy that I got a ton of positive feedback on from people that I trust," Brown said. "When we opened that position, it was non-negotiable that we wanted someone with NFL experience, and he's got 18-plus years of NFL experience at both the regional and the advanced scouting level."
Having someone on staff with extensive NFL experience has many benefits, Brown explains.
We wanted to bring in his NFL experience for multiple reasons, the first being instant credibility within our building and being able to communicate with our staff and our current roster what the NFL is looking for, how they evaluate and what the individual player needs to do to continue to grow to put themselves in a position to play in the National Football League.
"Then, having the scouting background, which is essentially what you're doing in the portal," Brown continued. "You are taking the NFL model from a scouting perspective and applying it to a little bit younger guy at the college level."
If you look at West Virginia's current roster, roughly one-fifth of it is comprised of players who began their college careers at other schools, so having someone with Fabianich's experience and expertise who can devote more time to evaluating transfer portal prospects is vitally important.
He can also evaluate West Virginia's roster needs and work with Brown on all aspects of roster management, which is basically what general managers are doing in professional football.
Brown said he's pleased with the growth and development the scouting department has made since its creation under Jansen, and he envisions even greater growth under Fabianich's leadership.
"As college football has changed and evolved, I think our personnel department has really changed and evolved, and now we truly have a scouting department that's really focused on college scouting of the transfer portal window," Brown said. "Then, we have high school recruiting that's obviously aimed at high school and junior college recruiting, and Matt was a big part of growing that.
"So, I wanted somebody with experience because I want us to continue to develop the people within that department," Brown added.
Fabianich has already hit the ground running. He arrived last week in time for the opening day of preseason camp on Wednesday.
"I'm excited about him," Brown said. "He's going to be a big benefit, not only to me, but I think to our players here and helping us continue to grow within the portal."
Earlier today, West Virginia had its second non-padded practice of preseason camp on the Steve Antoline Family Practice Field. Coordinators Jordan Lesley and Chad Scott were made available to the media afterward. Media members were also permitted to watch the first hour of practice.
The team will have a closed practice on Friday morning and select players will be available to the media afterward. Those interviews will be posted on our official YouTube channel, WVUsports.
Fan Day is slated for 9:30 to 11 a.m. on Saturday morning in the stadium concourse. Players and coaches will be available for autographs and then fans are invited to stick around to watch and open practice that is scheduled to last until 12:45 p.m.
Coach Neal Brown will offer his post-practice remarks to wrap up the first week of preseason camp.
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