Neal Brown Named Troy Football Head Coach

TROY, Alabama – Considered one of the top young minds in college football, Neal Brown has been named the football head coach at Troy University, Athletic Director John Hartwell announced at a press conference Monday morning.

Brown, 34, is the second youngest head coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision and returns to the school where he broke through as one of the top offensive coordinators in the country. A native on Danville, Ky., Brown becomes the 21^st head coach in the program's history.

Brown spent four seasons at Troy (2006-09), including the final two as the Trojans' offensive coordinator. Troy won four Sun Belt Conference titles and appeared in three bowl games during Brown's initial tenure.

At the time the youngest offensive coordinator in the FBS, Brown's 2009 offense finished third in the nation in total offense at 485.7 yards per game, fourth in passing at 336.5 yards and 16th in scoring with 33.7 points per contest. In 2008, his first season as coordinator, Brown's fast-paced offense set 10 school records.

In addition to the team accomplishments, Brown guided quarterback Levi Brown to the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year award in 2009 and SBC Newcomer of the Year in 2008.

Brown has spent the past two seasons as the offensive coordinator under Mark Stoops at Kentucky and has led the Wildcats to some new heights on the offensive side of the football. The Wildcats posted over 440 yards of total offensive in three Southeastern Conference games in 2014, its highest total since 2001.

In his first season, Kentucky's offense averaged three more points and 26 more yards of total offense than the prior year and the totals grew even more in year two. Before Brown left Kentucky, he had the Wildcats averaging 11.3 points and 69.3 yards of total offense more than before he arrived on campus.

The Wildcats totaled 380 yards or more of total offense in their first three SEC games in 2014 – Florida, Arkansas and South Carolina – marking the first time a UK team had done so since 1998.

Kentucky scored 21 offensive touchdowns in SEC play in 2014. The two years prior to Brown being named offensive coordinator, Kentucky had a combined 21 offensive touchdowns in SEC play.

Brown left Troy to join Tommy Tuberville's staff at Texas Tech in 2010 and picked up right where he left off at Troy. With Brown serving as Texas Tech's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, the Red Raiders ranked in the nation's top-seven teams in passing offense, top-15 in total offense and top-25 in scoring offense, having increased production in all three categories each year since 2010. TTU finished the 2012 season second nationally in passing with 355.9 yards per game, 13th in total offense at 495.4 yards per game and 20th in scoring with 37.5 points per game.

The 2012 campaign was an expansion of the success from 2011, when Texas Tech ranked 13th nationally in total offense at 470.6 yards per game. The Red Raiders lit the scoreboard at a tune of 33.8 points per contest.

Individually, quarterback Seth Doege put up eye-popping numbers. In 2011, Doege threw for 4,004 yards and 28 touchdowns. He improved to 4,205 yards and 39 touchdowns as a senior.

In his first season in Lubbock, Brown's offense notched 460.2 yards of total offense per game, 318.9 passing, and scored at a 33.1-point clip as Tech went 8-5 and won the TicketCity Bowl.

Brown's running game has made significant contributions to the attack as well. The Red Raiders rushed for 135.7 yards per game and scored 52 rushing touchdowns during his three seasons. TTU's primary running backs averaged 5.0 yards per rushing attempt, including a 5.8 average by Kenny Williams, the leading rusher in 2012.

Prior to his first stint at Troy, Brown served one season as wide receivers coach at the University of Delaware, starting three freshman wideouts as the Blue Hens posted a 6-5 record. In 2004, Brown coached the quarterbacks and wide receivers at Sacred Heart, helping guide the school to a 6-4 record and the top-ranked scoring offense in the conference. In 2003, he was the tight ends coach and offensive line assistant at Massachusetts, helping the Minutemen win a share of the Atlantic-10 championship and a berth in the FCS playoffs.

Brown earned his bachelor's degree in business management and his master's in business administration from Massachusetts, where he played the 2001-02 seasons. He totaled 58 receptions for 721 yards and four touchdowns while being named to the Atlantic-10 All-Academic Team and the NCAA Division I-AA Athletic Directors' Academic All-Star Team.

Born in Louisville, Brown grew up in Bardstown, Ky., before moving to Danville, Ky., where he was an all-state wide receiver at Boyle County High School, finishing his career as the No. 2 pass catcher in state history. He played at Kentucky from 1998-2000 and was a two-year letterman, catching 10 passes, including one touchdown. He was a member of the Outback Bowl and Music City Bowl teams and earned a place on the SEC Academic Honor Roll before transferring to Massachusetts.

He and his wife, Brooke, have daughters Adalyn and Anslee.

Cincinnati Head Coach Tommy Tuberville
Neal is a very talented coach with an excellent offensive mind and a great understanding of the game. He also possesses great evaluation and recruiting skills. I am very excited and proud for Neal and his family. I can't wait to see what he will do as the new head coach at Troy.

Kentucky Head Coach Mark Stoops
I am very happy for Neal to earn a head coaching job and believe Troy has made an outstanding hire. Congratulations to Neal and his family and I appreciate his hard work at Kentucky.

Kentucky Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart
I'm excited for Neal to get the head coaching opportunity at Troy, a school where he had a lot of success as an assistant. He is an outstanding young coach and a person with great integrity. I wish the best for Neal and his family in this new phase of his career.

Troy Chancellor Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr.
Opening statement…
Thank you so much and thank you for being here, what a great turnout it is to welcome Neal and his family back home. We are so proud to be able to do that on a great day. I want to take this moment to introduce our trustees. We have five who are here. I hope you all know the importance of these folks. They have been 110 percent behind this athletics program and I will mention a consideration or two as we go forward this morning, but our President Pro Tempore of the Board of Trustees, or the chairman of the board, Senator Gerald Dial, the President Pro Tempore Emeritus, our longest serving trustee, Dr. Douglas Hawkins, the chairman of our foundation board of directors, and she is also the chair of our academic affairs committee, Mrs. Karen Carter, one of our newest trustees Mr. Gibson Vance, and the chair of our student affairs committee and twice an SGA student president of Troy University, Mr. Lamar Higgins. We thank each of you for being here.

Let me make a comment or two before I introduce John. It was in 1990, in June of 1990, when our board of trustees considered and adopted the move to Division I. Since that time, we have invested over $100 million into our athletics facilities. We will soon approach the end of phase one and I wanted to reiterate to the entire football community here, and the family, that we will build that north end zone building and we will build it soon.

I often remind our folks that great universities stir great emotions, but only in America, because intercollegiate athletics are unique to American higher education. Three weeks ago we were in Vietnam for graduation and I actually had one of our graduates to say, 'Great, we beat New Mexico State!' So, our story and our brand reaches far beyond Troy but it all begins right here and for football it begins right there on that football field. In that year, 1990, that we made the move to Division I, and it was never about athletics. It was always about the advancement of the university, and I think it has served us well, but it required great leadership.

In December, on December the 3, almost 24 years ago, we appointed a gentleman who became a legend. I am delighted to see coach Larry Blakeney and his first lady, Janice Blakeney, here. Coach Blakeney has not only earned our respect and love, but he has earned a great legacy at Troy University and it was a great day when his name was applied to that field to my right and your left. Today, almost 24 years later, we come together to celebrate the advent of a new era at Troy. I will let John introduce that gentleman that will carry us over into the future, but I will say this: John Hartwell has done a great job, not only as our athletics director during the past two years, I will say I believe he is the best athletics director in Division I.

As this process unfolded, John and I had a conversation. We both agreed that, however long his tenure may be, we hope it is a long time, that this recommendation would be along the most important that he would make. I think all of us know the importance, we certainly have seen that over the past 24 years. We hope going forward that we will celebrate as many victories as we have in the past. John has not only done a great job as the athletics director, but I can tell you, over the past several weeks, Heather (Hartwell) would be the first to say amen to this, he has been tireless in this process. I don't know how many hours he spent at home, but I know how many hours he spent on the telephone and sending me e-mails and messages at all hours of the day and night. John, you have done a great job and I look forward to the official announcement. I welcome all of you in letting me introduce to you for the official announcement. As I say to the family, welcome to Troy University.

Troy Athletics Director John Hartwell
Opening statement…
Thank you Dr. Hawkins. What an exciting day today, not only for Troy football, Troy Athletics and Troy University, and our community, but also throughout our state and throughout college football. As this announcement unfolded, as Dr. Hawkins said, we have been in dialogue quiet often, several times a day for the past two or three weeks and as we approach this decision, we talked about the press conference and trying to keep things. I know Neal's (Brown) children are here and my children are as well. We are getting close to that Christmas time and that anticipation of Christmas and walking in on Christmas morning and unwrapping that present full of surprise. Well, in today's world of social media, keeping the present wrapped until Christmas morning and unwrapping it and having that surprise, has a tendency of going out the window a bit. Certainly we are certainly excited about this. As news of Neal's appointment as our head coach has spread, I can't tell you the countless folks across college athletics who have texted or e-mailed me about what a tremendous hire, and certainly we feel that way.

Before I get into that, I want to thank some folks. Certainly, Dr. Hawkins and as we were here for the celebration of Larry (Blakeney) and Janice's (Blakeney) on Saturday night I mentioned this. There are a lot of tremendous athletics directors, football coaches, basketball coaches, all kinds of coaches, in the country who are somewhat handcuffed by having a chancellor, president or administration who does not fully understand the power and strength of what college athletics can do, not only from a public relations standpoint, but from an enrollment standpoint and everything else. Well, we are amongst the lucky ones. Certainly, Dr. Hawkins recognizes the power and understands truly what college athletics can do for a university. I am very grateful for that, thank you and certainly for your leadership and in this search for giving us the latitude for us to be able to go and target the guy that, clearly, has established himself head and shoulders above some very, very strong competition in this process.

Certainly, I echo what Dr. Hawkins said about our board of trustees: tremendous, very involved and very supportive in what we do, thank you all so much for what you do. We also had a 17-person advisory committee for this search and I see some of those folks here: Nick Cervera, Benny Beard and I see some others in here, I apologize if I don't recognize you by name, but that group has been tremendous, too. They have been a tremendous sounding board for me to be able to bounce information off, for them to provide information to me. I thank you all for your service, in that respect as well.

Dr. Hawkins stole my thunder, a bit. Certainly I have to thank my wife, Heather, because that's true. Certainly for the past four weeks, I have laid my head on my own pillow two consecutive nights one time, but I'm glad to have been through that process. Certainly, thank you as always for your support in terms of it is a partnership. I know Neal is going to talk about this, too. We could not do it without the support of our very supportive wives and certainly very strong cheerleaders for Troy University and Troy Athletics.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention this group, and there may be a couple of you folks out there here. I mentioned this in an interview the other day and you're going to try and figure out why I say this. I also want to thank the many, many internet experts out there on our fan sites, because of all of the expert advice and 'you need to hire this person or that person.' I am not guided by those Internet folks at all, but I do go on there about once a week just for some kicks and giggles, but I will say this: those folks that get on there and engage have passion. They have passion about Troy University. I don't ever want to pull the reigns back on passion. I want everybody to be passionate about our athletics program and our football program and I will say this: I want to use this opportunity, this new beginning today that we are very excited about, as a call to arms. There are some tremendous folks out here in terms of buying tickets and donating towards that building that we are working to get started here in the near future, doing all of those things, but I ask you to talk to the folks around you. Get them further engaged. Many of you that went on our website last night have already seen, you can buy your season tickets for the 2015 season right now. You can buy them as a Christmas present, buy more than you bought last year. For us to be successful at the very highest level, which we are going to be, we need everybody pulling from the same end of the rope toward a common goal of Troy University football. It is going to happen with this guy right here. They are going to talk about Troy football in the same breath as Boise State and Northern Illinois. They are going to say, 'We don't want to play them, because they are going to kick our tails.' We are excited about that and I do put that challenge out there to every one of you out there. I know a lot of you already give at a very high level and buy tickets, but I challenge you to do everything you can do to help us be successful.

I walk to talk briefly about the process, too. This process started over eight weeks ago when Larry announced that he was stepping aside. I would be totally remiss, and I know Dr. Hawkins has covered this a little bit, but you talk about the 100 plus people interested in our job, you can talk about the people calling me about our job, or people that I have talked to, the Jerry Jones, Pat Haden and Archie Manning's, the who's who of college football and the reason they know about Troy football and they are interested in Troy football is attributable to that man right there. Thank you very much Larry Blakeney. Through this process, we were able to narrow down to what we thought was probably the eight to 10 people who fit what we were looking for the most.

As we started this process, about eight weeks ago, there were three things that stuck out, that we felt were the most important qualities. One. A recruiting machine. Someone that has a proven track record, who has a plan of attack, who can go out there and find us the very best players and that is extremely important, not only for that individual, because as many of you know, today's successful whether you are a CEO of a company, an athletics director or a football head coach, you can only do so much as an individual. You better surround yourself with quality people. Certainly, not only what that person does, but also what the staff they assemble around them does. Neal will talk about that in a few minutes. Certainly, very excited about that. It is still a work in progress, but we are certainly very excited about that. So, a recruiting machine. Two. Certainly, bringing in a proven track history of accountability and discipline to our football program. I know there are a handful of our staff members in Neal's first meeting with the team this morning at 7 o'clock. I will tell you, there was a come to Jesus in there. He got folks attention real quick. Certainly look forward to that. He has a history of being a coordinator here at Troy, the youngest FBS coordinator here at Troy for two years. He moved on to be under (now football head coach at Cincinnati) Tommy Tuberville at Texas Tech, and certainly the last two years under (head coach) Mark Stoops at the University of Kentucky. The third item is a nebulas item: the fit. Certainly, we were looking for somebody that fit Troy. It wasn't a prerequisite that you had been here before, but certainly that is a huge plus in Neal's corner. Certainly, understanding our place and how it works, our vision for the future and our expectations, and certainly Neal does that.

As we went through the process, I had the pleasure of visiting Neal and his wife, Brooke, and their kids at their house one night. I probably overstayed my welcome, because Brooke prepared us a delicious meal, I got to visit with the kids for a little bit and then we probably spent four, four and a half hours after the meal downstairs in their basement talking football and life. I could tell there was chemistry and a click right there. One of the things that stuck out to me that Neal said was, 'I have always been at have-nots.' When I first heard that, I kind of looked at him like, uh, inquisitively. He went on to explain, 'I come from a small town in Kentucky. I went to play for Kentucky. I wasn't the most talented. I wasn't the biggest or the fastest, but I found a way to do it. Then, in my coaching career, at Troy I get my first opportunity as a coordinator. Troy doesn't have the most money of any budget, but we found a way to get it done. I go to Texas Tech, and yes, it is a BCS-level school but if you look at the budgets, in terms of Big 12, Texas Tech is at the bottom. We got it done. I go to Kentucky, and yes, Big Blue nation in basketball, (athletics director) Mitch (Barnhart) is funneling all the money towards that, but in football it is on level with the tier of lower level budgets for football in the SEC and we got it done.' He went on to say, 'I like that challenge. I like being the underdog. I operate with a chip on my shoulder, in a positive way. That chip helps me bring it, each and every day to be successful.' Boy, when I heard that, I said I think this is going to work out. Certainly we are very, very excited about this. This business is all about relationships. I did not know Neal Brown before that night walking into their home. I knew some guys that know him very well. He has the guy that was the best man in his wedding that has actually been a long time friend of mine that is in the business, a character guy. Coleman Barnes, who is at Miami (Ohio), he told me this guy has got it. He told me this about five years ago, so I have followed Neal and you never know in the incestual world of college athletics where your paths will cross. Certainly, when I sat down in the Brown's home, about 10 days ago, and felt that passion for about five hours, I said, hey that guy is our guy. So without further adieu, I am so pleased to introduce the guy who has brought it here his first day, and he is going to bring it every day and take Troy football to new heights, head coach Neal Brown.

Troy football head coach Neal Brown
Opening Statement…
Thank you to these two gentlemen for their kind words. I am humbled and honored to stand at this podium as Troy's head football coach. I am grateful and that is the appropriate term. I am grateful for Dr. Hawkins and John Hartwell, for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to return to this great university. It meant a lot to see the crowd at the airport yesterday. That was great. I could feel the energy and excitement then, and in this room when I walked in and saw the faces, the familiar faces, and feel the energy and excitement in this room. It is overwhelming.

My family and I are very grateful for that and very appreciative, we feel that also. I want to recognize my family that is here: my wife, Brooke, and our two daughters who are in cheerleader uniforms, Adalyn, 6, and Anslee, 3. They are very excited. Brooke has been my biggest supporter. She is an incredible wife and mother. She has made a lot of sacrifices for me, so I could pursue my career and I want to say thank you to her. I also want to recognize my mom and dad, Tom and Peggy. They are my two biggest fans from all the way growing up until now. You will see a lot of them. I'm glad they could be here to share this moment, and I'm very appreciative of that. Brooke and I both grew up in Kentucky. Our house, for not very much longer, but our current house is about 20 miles from where we grew up. Our parents both still live in Danville, Ky., which is where we grew up. We were happy at UK. Brooke graduated from there. We had a good thing going. It would have taken a great opportunity, a special place, to get us to leave.

When I saw Coach Blakeney was stepping down, you know, Troy is that special place for us. It is where I became a Division I football coach for the first time. It is where Brooke and I first moved when we got married. It is where our first child was born. It is where I became the youngest coordinator in the country. Like I said, when I saw Coach Blakeney stepped down, I knew I wanted this job. It wasn't because of the memories; there are a lot of them. I could go on and on about them. It was because of the opportunity. What made Troy special to us are not the four conference championships we won while we were here. It wasn't the three bowl bids, it should have been four, but it wasn't the three bowl bids. It is the people. I want to talk about some of those people. I'm a notes guy, so you're going to have to bear with me on my notes.

First, I want to talk about John. He was tremendous throughout this whole process. He was honest, open and aggressive. I was immediately drawn in by those traits. He has a vision for Troy Athletics and we are on the same page. That was important. I always dreamed of being a head coach and I wanted a partner in the athletic director position, and he will be my partner. I look forward to working with him for years to come.

Dr. Hawkins is one of the best in the business. He has accomplished things at Troy that no one thought was possible. He will continue to do those things. I had the privilege to get to know Dr. Hawkins and his wife when I was here previously. I had the opportunity to catch up with him on the phone for a good bit last night. I want to thank him for being here today. I know his has a busy schedule. I couldn't be more excited to be a part of his plan for Troy University.

Coach Blakeney, I will always call him coach. He hired me when I was 25 years old. He didn't know me. He took a recommendation from a mentor of mine, Tony Franklin, who did a great job here. He hired me to be the receivers coach. Larry Blakeney is Troy football. He led this program through so many transitions. He did it the right way and he won at a high level. I have learned so much from him in the four years I was here. I will always be grateful for that. He is a tremendous man, mentor and he is my friend. I had a great chance to catch up with him yesterday morning, and I appreciate that. Coach will remain an active part of this program. I want him to be as involved as he possibly wants to be. I am very appreciative of you, Mrs. Janice, for being here today. I appreciate that.

I also want to thank the board members for being here today. I look forward to working with each and every one of you. The community leaders that are here, I don't want to recognize people because I may leave someone out, and I don't want to start on that note. The other coaches that are here, I appreciate you all being out here. Scrap (assistant baseball coach Mark Smartt), I appreciate you coming to the airport and giving your support last night. I got a chance to catch up with (men's basketball head coach) Coach (Phil) Cunningham this morning. I got to visit with the administrative staff this morning. I appreciate (police escorts) Wayne and Brock being here. There are so many familiar faces in this room. Fellow coaches, Brooke and I will be your biggest fans. We are sports fans. We might question you every once in awhile. I really appreciate the turnout from the athletics staff.

I want to take a minute to thank some coaches that have played a huge role in my career and have helped me get to where I am today. I want to thank Tommy Tuberville. I had the opportunity to be an offensive coordinator for him for three years at Texas Tech. He is a good friend and allowed me to grow. He gave me a lot of freedom, so I want to thank Tubs for that. I also want to spend a minute to talk about Mark Stoops. He is a tremendous man. He is doing a great job, him and (Athletic Director) Mitch (Barnhart), are doing a great job building the foundation for what will be a great program at the University of Kentucky. As a former player, I couldn't be more proud of what they're doing at Kentucky. I wish the players and the coaches and the entire Big Blue Nation nothing but the best. I will be a Kentucky fan. Those two guys and a lot of coaches along the way.

My dad is a former coach. At the heart of who I am, I am a teacher. My mom and dad were both teachers. My dad was a principal. Brooke is a teacher. Her parents are teachers. Three of my four grandparents are teachers. So, at my heart, that is who I am. I grew up a gym rat. I am very proud of that. We are welcoming our third into the family and it's a boy, finally balancing those numbers out a bit. It's our third, so we will be a zone defense from now, no more man to man. Coaches I grew up around, coaches I have had the opportunity to work around and with, coaches I've had the opportunity to work for, they helped mold me and mold my philosophy.

I know head coaches are expected to do three things: 1. Win, and we will. 2. Graduate student-athletes, and we will. 3. Develop young men. That is our job, and we will. We don't take that lightly. How are we doing to do that? 1. We are going to be a players-first program. We are here to serve them. That is one of coach Blakeney's best lines: players. I've heard it over and over and it is. It's about the players and we will be a players-first program. So, what does that mean? It means that in every aspect, from academics to strength and conditioning, to nutrition and administrative roles, we are going to be positive with our guys. Our guys are going to look forward to coming into our building each and every day. To whom much is given, much is expected. We are going to do everything within our means and NCAA rules to give our players the necessary tools to be successful, but we will expect them to work extremely hard to make those goals come true.

We will be accountable; we talked about this with the team this morning, not only to each other, but also to this program and university. We will play disciplined on the field and we will be disciplined off the field. That is a program mandate from day one and that has already been communicated. I told you, we are going to have fun. Part of being players-first is, listen, they talk about playing the game of football. They don't say lets go work the game of football. We are going to have fun. We are going to have a fun environment around our offense. We are going to be disciplined, but we will have fun. You can be both.

Competition is vital. We are going to compete in everything on a daily basis. That is grades, the offseason practice, in the game, everything. I want our staff competing with that same energy and that same passion on a daily basis. Competition breeds success. I think every coach in here will agree with that. The next phase will be recruit and development. Championship football teams are built through recruitment and development. Our coaching staff will be active and visible, not only with the high school coaches in Alabama, but the high school coaches in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana. We will focus on players that fit our program that fit our needs, players that are willing to work harder and more than the guy lining up across from them. Our goal is to get prospective students on campus. I believe, especially after driving around here last night, I look forward to getting on campus today and getting in some buildings and getting into the new basketball arena. If we can get students on campus, we can make them Troy Trojans.

From a player development perspective, I want to touch base on this, I'm so excited, to hear Dr. Hawkins talk about the north end zone facility. I look forward to doing whatever I can in my role, to help contribute to that. That will play a vital role in moving forward, for the success of this program. From a player development standpoint, this is huge.

The heart and soul of our 2015-football team was sitting in that meeting this morning. We will add pieces, without question, but it is important that we develop the guys in that room, and continue to develop guys as they come into our program, not just physically, but mentally and spiritually. We will focus on things like character development, and leadership training. I look forward to Troy's military background contacts to help develop some leadership training for our student-athletes. I want to incorporate sport science into our strength and conditioning program. This is all a part of regaining our edge, the edge that comes with playing with a chip in your shoulder.

I talked to our guys about this today. We have to get back to playing with edge that led to five conference championships, four bowl games in five years. Your video tells your story. After games, every Sunday or Monday, you show your team the film. That video tells a story that never lies. That video tells your story: who you are and what you represent. You cannot hide from it. It tells you who you are as a player and a football team. Our video will tell our story. We are going to play fast. We're going to play hard and physical. When people talk about Troy, I believe they did this during that time, they are going to talk about how those guys play hungry. Those guys played with a chip on their shoulder and when they strapped it up, especially when they came into Veterans Memorial Stadium, you better be ready. We are going to get back to that edge. That edge is Troy football and it will be back. I look forward to that.

I want to talk some football. I plan to be exciting in all three phases. My background is in offense. I am what I am. I believe in playing fast paced football. I believe in throwing the football. I believe in getting our guys in space and making people miss. We have had a lot of success with that brand of football. I look forward to doing those same things here at Troy. On defense, I know there are going to be a lot of questions on defense. Our defense will be aggressive and sound. I want to play fundamentally sound defense with one goal: getting the ball back so we can score again. I want players thinking and not reacting. We will be simple and we will be aggressive. On special teams, we are going to play sound. I look at special teams as another opportunity to score. We are going to be innovative and we will take chances, with calculated risk, designed to change the game.

Lets talk about getting started. One of the things I must do is surround myself with people who are quality people, that love Troy, that love developing young men. Dr. Hawkins and I had a very good conversation about this last night. I want to surround myself with people that are smarter than I am, that can help me and our student-athletes win a Sun Belt Conference championship. I am focused on getting it right, more so than getting it done. My staff is going to consist of coaches that appreciate the opportunity and are grateful to put on that T just like I am.

Signing Day is getting close. I know that. I had a recruiting meeting today with several coaches and soon as this is over several coaches will be getting on the road. I look forward to that. It is early December, two weeks. We plan on reconnecting with commits, local players and any immediate needs we have. Then, taking a break to gather our thoughts and attacking the three live weeks in January. We will sign an outstanding class and bring some fine young men to Troy University.

I want to touch base one minute. I had the opportunity to meet the guys this morning. I had a great first meeting. Everyone was there, alert and ready. I look forward to getting to know those guys over the next four or five days. My message in that meeting was this: we are here to win. We are here to win. It is a process that starts by changing habits. It's a process that starts with making quality decisions on a day-to-day basis. It's an every day process. You will hear me say every day, a lot. I said it a lot to them today.

My last message is to the fans. All of you that were there last night, I appreciate that. The ones that are here today, I see a lot of friends. I could go and name again, I won't do that, but fans you have been a huge part of this program. Coach (Blakeney) you probably remember this, when we went to our first New Orleans Bowl. You remember coming down the elevator into the lobby and to see the band and the Troy faithful for the first bowl in 2006. What a special feeling that way. These fans are special. I appreciate you all and I look forward to taking you back to that. We need you. I want that to be heard loud and clear. We need you, probably more now than ever. We need Veterans Memorial Stadium to be the toughest place to play in the Sun Belt Conference.

I want to thank you all for coming today. I am so excited I cannot tell you how excited I am to be the head football coach at Troy University, following head coach Larry Blakeney's footsteps. I look forward to building on the foundation that has been here. Troy has won at every level and we will continue to do that.

Neal Brown Q&A
On the emotions of coming back…
Well, when we left in 2009, there was a lot of emotion flying in that airport. It was the same airport that I flew into. When we left we always kept in touch. There are special people here. We kept the relationships with a lot of people that we worked with and a lot of our friends in the community. This was a place we always kept our eye on because the potential here, what Coach Blakeney has done, and what the program has done throughout its history. So, obviously we always kept our eye on this program. We are grateful for the opportunity to come back and to be the head coach.

On what he learned at his other jobs to help him here…
I think first, at Texas Tech, not exactly the exact same situation, but very similar. Mike Leach was the head coach at Texas Tech and when he departed, he called the plays at Texas Tech. Stepping into that role I was following a legend. It is the same thing here. I think that prepared me for this moment. At Kentucky, when I arrived two years ago, to sit at the right hand of Mark Stoops, who was a first time head coach, and watch his experiences and how he handled things, I was constantly taking notes and making mental reminders for myself. Those two opportunities set me up. I thought I was ready then, I know I'm ready now.

On calling plays…
I plan on calling the offensive plays. The good thing here is that I will have experienced staff, some of them that have worked with me before. I am going to lean on those guys, Kenny Edenfield, Sean Reagan and Shayne Wasdsen. Those guys played roles when we were here together. The system is similar.

On the transition…
I haven't had an opportunity to sit down and watch video of the current team and players. I will watch some to get a grasp. I think it's important that there is a new beginning here, that all players in our program start with a new beginning. I want my impressions to be my impressions of them, what I see with my naked eye. The good thing about here, in comparison to Kentucky, the system here is very similar to when I was here. They made some tweaks, but the receiver numbers are good. The quarterback play has been solid this year. So the pieces of the puzzle are here in place.

On recruiting and the north end zone…
I think recruiting is about relationships and people first and foremost. Facilities give you an opportunity, but at the end of the day, kids don't necessarily come because of the facilities. They come because of people. The north end zone facility is vital to the progression of our program, without a doubt.

John Hartwell Q&A
On financial aspects…
We have a signed letter of agreement and a formal contract will follow. His contract is a four-year contract with an automatic one-year rollover, provided he doesn't rob a bank or anything. So, four years, one rollover year with a base pay of $660,000 per year. There are quite a few incentive clauses in there. Certainly, that is a component to the package, but we talk about assembling a staff. One of the things that was important, and I go back to thanking Dr. Hawkins and our administration for understanding the importance of this as this investment we think will pay off many times in the long run, is also having a pool of money to get the very best assistants to help us have every opportunity to win. Going back to, again, while this guy has the expectation that he will take off his shirt and there will be a big "S" across his chest, he is one person. The success of our program will not be just one individual. Yes he is calling the shots and he's the CEO, but surrounding himself with a tremendous staff. I know you'll ask, so it's $1.2 million for our salary pool for assistants. There will also be a budget allocated for administrative help on the football operations side as well.

On the north end zone…
We are again working with the architects on that. We will look forward to Neal's input on that. Again, from that perspective, our hope is after the completion of the 2015 season that we can have shovels in the ground. We are looking for a 14-16 month construction period. That goes back to the charge out there. We will come calling on folks to help fundraise for the facility. We believe that building will give us that 'wow' factor.

Troy University Athletics

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