Kansas State Football: Potential head coach candidate Neal Brown

By John McCarty | Dec 10, 2018

NEW ORLEANS, LA - DECEMBER 16: Head coach Neal Brown of the Troy Trojans reacts in the first half against the North Texas Mean Green during the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on December 16, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /

Troy head coach Neal Brown could be the man to replace Bill Snyder as the head coach of Kansas State football. Will he catch the attention of Athletic Director Gene Taylor?

Completing his fourth season at Troy since taking the job at the end of the 2014 season, the Troy program Neal Brown took over has been nothing short of a success. With victories at LSU and Nebraska the last two years, along with consecutive appearances in the Sun Belt conference championship game (and winning it in 2017), Brown would be a worthy candidate at Kansas State.

After losing out on Seth Littrell of North Texas, the eyes of Kansas State has turned to other candidates. Mentioned are Memphis head coach Mike Norvell and North Dakota State head coach Chris Klieman. Neal Brown’s name has emerged as a candidate and his resume certainly merits consideration for the position.

There are similarities in the Kansas State position and the position Brown inherited at Troy. Legend Larry Blakeney won 178 games at Troy (no other coach has won more then 44 games) and the field bears his name. However, in the last few years of the Blakeney run, Troy managed to win a combined 14 games over the last three seasons before Blakeney took over. Enter Neal Brown.

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After a four-win season in 2015, Troy would ten and 11 games respectively with bowl victories in the Dollar General and New Orleans bowl. With a victory in the 2018 Dollar General Bowl, the Brown-led Troy program has a chance to win ten games for the third consecutive seasons. After somewhat surprisingly not being a candidate for Louisville, Brown remains on the coaching market.

There are concerns about Brown and his ability to fit in in with Kansas State. Despite spending three seasons at Texas Tech with Mike Leach, Brown has spent very little time recruiting and coaching in territories Kansas State plays in. Currently, Troy has one player on their roster from a state considered in the footprint of the Big12. They do, however, have multiple players from the state of Georgia, a region the Cats have had a level of success recruiting in recent memory.

Also, Brown’s buyout could be an issue. USA Today reports the buyout for a school to hire Brown could be as high as three million dollars. Despite college sports sometimes appearing they ‘play the game’ with monopoly money, this is not an insignificant amount.

Would the Cats be willing to pay the money needed to bring Brown to Manhattan? Could the Cats lure Neal Brown away with a significant raise in salary and opportunity to coach at the Big 12 level?

At this point in the process, Brown should be the top target for Gene Taylor and the Wildcats. He has a proven track record of winning football games and the ability to prepare his football team. Kansas State certainly appears to be in a good position to attract a quality coach and should be able to pay the money needed to hire a candidate such as Neal Brown.

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