After a season on Steve Sarkisian’s staff, former WVU coach Neal Brown takes over 11-1 North Texas as the Mean Green navigate the post–Eric Morris era.
This year's coaching carousel has already been one of the wildest in recent memory, headlined by Lane Kiffin's dramatic jump from Ole Miss to LSU.
The SEC alone will roll into 2026 with six new head coaches, and the ripple effects are all over the country, including in Austin.
The Texas Longhorns will see four of those new SEC faces up close next season, with LSU, Ole Miss, Florida, and Arkansas all breaking in fresh leadership when they line up against Texas.
For a while, it looked like Steve Sarkisian's staff would ride out the storm untouched. That changed on Tuesday.
According to ESPN's Pete Thamel, North Texas is hiring Texas special assistant Neal Brown as its next head coach, handing the former West Virginia and Troy boss a five-year deal to run the Mean Green.
Brown quietly spent this past season in Austin as a special assistant to Sarkisian, essentially hitting reset after his tenure at West Virginia ended. Now he's back in the big chair, and walking into a program that's anything but a rebuild.
North Texas is in the middle of a breakthrough year under Eric Morris, sitting at 11-1 with an AAC championship game on Friday against Tulane and a possible College Football Playoff berth still on the table.
Morris is leaving to take over at Oklahoma State after the Cowboys fired long-time head coach Mike Gundy mid-season, but he'll be allowed to coach the title game before heading to Stillwater.
Once Morris exits, Brown steps into a prime situation in Denton.
The 44-year-old brings a decade of head-coaching experience with him. He first made his name at Troy, going 35-16 over four seasons, winning three bowl games and a Sun Belt title.
That success earned him the West Virginia job, where he logged a 37-35 record across six years. His high-water mark in Morgantown came in 2023 with a 9-4 finish, but a 6-6 campaign in 2024 led to his dismissal.
Now, Brown gets a fresh start at a program with momentum, facilities on the rise, and a roster built to win right now.
For Texas, it's a quiet but notable staff loss. For North Texas, it's a statement hire ... landing a proven head coach with Power Four experience to steer the Mean Green into their next era.