Neal Brown to staff: “I’m staying here”

According to a source within the program, Troy head coach Neal Brown told his staff on Tuesday that he intends to remain in Troy following this season.

Brown called a staff meeting and alerted his assistants of his intentions.

Brown has been a popular name as the coaching carousel begins to heat up. His name has been thrown into several hats for multiple Power Five openings, albeit mostly by fans.

It should be noted that we’re still very early in the process and it’s unlikely Brown has received any major offers. Brown’s message to the staff could have some insight as to what kind of job he is looking for, though. Making an apparent decision before second and third tier jobs come available tells us that Brown may be holding out for an SEC type job.

With UCF’s Scott Frost and Memphis’ Mike Norvell being legit contenders for major jobs, their departure would leave empty seats in the Group of Five’s premier jobs. While Brown appears to be holding out, he will be on the immediate short list of both schools if their current head coaches were to leave.

Neither Memphis nor UCF can offer SEC money but both can present an offer that’s considerably more handsome that what Brown is making now.

With all that said, the 20 Days following the Arkansas State game will be critical. High-level G5 jobs and low-level P5 jobs will start opening up and Brown will receive multiple phone calls. If he leaves it’ll be in the 20 days after this Saturday’s game.

Brown has compiled a 22-13 record in nearly three years at Troy and has the Trojans playing for their first Sun Belt title since 2010 on Saturday. Brown signed a restructured contract last spring that boosted his base salary to $850,000 and reworked his bonus set up.