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Brown Officially Announces Football Staff

Annual Gold-Blue scrimmage is set for Saturday, April 13

MORGANTOWN — The first crack of pads and grunts of hard hits are still a month away, but that did not stop first-year West Virginia University football coach Neal Brown from stepping in front of a podium Monday to introduce the staff that the Mountaineers’ 35th head coach will help him through the transition to a new era of West Virginia football.

“Putting together this staff the thing I was looking for first and foremost was men of character,” Brown said. “Men whose believes are in line with our culture and align with our beliefs about the ‘total Mountaineer.'”

The names have been out for several weeks, but the former Troy University head coach wanted to wait until the entire staff was in place until he released the positions they will be handling when the Mountaineers open spring drills on March 19.

Three were pretty well known before Monday’s announcement as defensive coordinator Vic Koenning came to Morgantown with Brown and his family when he was introduced as the team’s new head coach while co-offensive coordinators Matt Moore, who will handle the offensive line, and Chad Scott — the team’s new running backs coach — were pretty much entrenched in those positions from the day they were named to the staff.

Rounding out the offensive staff will be University of Clemson graduate assistant Xavier Dye (wide receivers), Sean Reagan (quarterbacks) and a name familiar to all Mountaineer fans, Travis Trickett, who will coach the inside receivers and tight ends.

“Well, I’m not so sure most Mountaineer fans know me?” quipped Trickett, whose father, Rick, was the Mountaineers’ offensive line coach during the Rich Rodriguez years. “They know my dad (Rick) and I’m pretty sure they remember my brother Clint (the starting quarterback for two years at WVU), but I hope to let them see who I am over the next few months.”

Joining Koenning on the defensive side of the football will be former Kansas State University linebackers coach Blake Seiler (inside linebackers), Jordan Lesley (defensive line), Al Pogue (outside linebackers) and another name every Mountaineers fan should remember, Jahmile Addae (secondary).

“At first, I couldn’t believe it when Coach Brown reached out to me about coming home to West Virginia,” Addae, an All-Big East Conference safety for Rodriguez, said. “How many times does a player get to return home to coach the team he played for and the people of a state he loved?

“So, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to come back here as long as Coach Brown wanted me to come back.”

The new staff has the three ingredients Brown believes is important for a successful campaign.

“Other critical factors as I put together this staff was: No. 1, continuity,” Brown said. Six of the 10 guys we’ve worked together for at least four years, five out of the 10 have previous experience in this league, and nine of the 10 have been a part at another staff on the Power 5 level.”

Fans will get their first look at the new staff at work at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 13 at Mylan Puskar Stadium as they lead the players through their first Gold-Blue Scrimmage.

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