The 2025 Backyard Brawl will not feature now former West Virginia head coach Neal Brown for the first time since its revival in 2022.
West Virginia fired Brown Sunday afternoon after six seasons with the program, choosing to buy out the nearly $10 million remaining on his contract. It comes after a 6-6 season for the Mountaineers, capped by a 52-15 loss to Texas Tech in their regular season finale.
Brown went 37-35 during his six seasons at WVU, and maybe more importantly, 1-2 against Pitt during that time.
Pitt won the renewal of the Backyard Brawl in 2022, a 38-31 triumph at Acisure Stadium courtesy of an M.J. Devonshire pick-six in the fourth quarter. It was the first Brawl in over a decade, and the crowd at Acrisure set a sporting event crowd record in Pittsburgh.
West Virginia won the only Brawl in Morgantown, W.Va., a 17-6 result in 2023, but the Panthers got back with a come-from-behind 38-34 win at Acrisure Stadium this season — fueled by 350 total yards and three touchdowns from Eli Holstein.
WVU will now embark upon a national coaching search to find Brown’s successor, and whoever it is will have one crack at Pitt next season before the series is paused until 2029.
Brown is one of the first dominos to fall in the 2024-25 offseason, along with Purdue’s Ryan Walters, North Carolina’s Mack Brown and UCF’s Guz Malzahn (who stepped down to take the offensive coordinator job for Mike Norvell in Florida State). There will be plenty more over coming days and weeks.
