West Virginia and Neal Brown are through after 72 games. The Mountaineers fired Brown at the end of his sixth regular season after a 37-35 record and four bowl bids and now have the task of paying a hefty buyout and hiring a new coach as the Big 12 and the sport evolve in a new era. How and why this happened the way it did are questions WVU must answer soon, but the biggest question is what the team does next after choosing Brown from the Group of 5 following three straight double-digit win seasons at Troy.

How do the Mountaineers proceed? We’ve had some conversations around the campus, sport and industry to ask, take recommendations and craft a preliminary list of realistic candidates. We’re presenting our most educated, most informed guess at what names might make their way to athletic director Wren Baker’s desk. This is an initial version very early in the process. We will trim it soon and update this as the search develops.

The expectation is WVU will focus on the FBS level but not restrict itself to head coaches. If it’s an assistant, should he have experience as a head coach? If not, what about experience as an assistant at the power conference level? Should there be a WVU connection? A Big 12 bond? An offensive mind? A defense-first coach? These are the most common, most interesting and most realistic names of coaches our sources believe could be called, should be considered and would be candidates.