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00:00 Okay, members of the media, thank you for joining us today for our zoom press conference.
00:09 We are honored to have with us, Mr. Danny Morrison, the executive director of the Charlotte
00:15 Sports Foundation, along with coach Neil Brown will be talking about the upcoming Dukes Mayo
00:22 Bowl on December 27th in Charlotte, and I'd like to turn it over right now to Mr. Morrison
00:30 for an opening statement.
00:31 Great, well thank you very much and good afternoon and let me just say we're thrilled about this
00:37 matchup.
00:38 We think it's one of the best matchups in all of bowl season to have West Virginia and
00:43 North Carolina, two great programs, two wonderful brand names and we think it's going to be
00:51 an exciting day here in Charlotte.
00:54 Charlotte's a wonderful place to host, park your car in uptown Charlotte, walk everywhere,
01:01 restaurants are excellent, nightlife and so it should be a fun time and we love welcoming
01:10 the West Virginia fans to Charlotte.
01:14 Thank you very much, sir.
01:16 Coach Brown, an opening statement from you.
01:18 Yeah, first of all, thank you all for being on.
01:21 I appreciate it.
01:22 Apologize about my voice in advance.
01:23 It sounds a lot better today than it did yesterday.
01:26 So I don't feel bad, but I don't sound very good.
01:31 So I apologize about that.
01:33 I'm in Vegas, so I apologize about doing this over Zoom.
01:37 Out here for the National Football Foundation Awards where Zach Frazier is up for the Campbell
01:42 Trophy tonight and this week and next are probably the, well, I don't know if the most
01:49 busy but one of the most busiest sections of the year for college football coaches.
01:55 We've got player retention, we've got high school recruiting leading into signing day
02:03 on December 20th, portal recruiting and then we've got to get ready for the bowl game as
02:09 well.
02:10 So a lot going on.
02:12 Really excited about representing the Big 12 in the Duke's Mayo Bowl.
02:15 Sunday was an interesting day, but I think it landed in a really good place.
02:21 As you all know, large group of Mountaineers in the Charlotte area.
02:25 One of our biggest alumni bases is Charlotte.
02:28 It's a six hour drive from Morgantown.
02:31 And so it's a great location for our fans, even closer for Southern West Virginians.
02:35 So it's a great location for our fans.
02:37 Quality matchup versus North Carolina.
02:41 15 that was ranked for most of the year.
02:44 A lot of respect for Mack Brown, you know what he's done in his coaching profession,
02:48 how he conducts his business.
02:49 A lot of respect there and was able to watch him on the flight out to Vegas on offense
02:54 and defense.
02:55 I haven't had a chance to watch much special teams yet, but on offense, one of the top
03:00 10 offenses in the country.
03:02 Chip Lindsay's done a great job there.
03:04 I think really balanced a little over 300 yards passing to almost or nearly 200 yards
03:10 rushing.
03:11 So one of the most balanced offenses in the country.
03:14 Know their personnel well because we recruit a lot of those guys and didn't get them.
03:19 I think Drake May obviously is going to be one of the top quarterbacks in the draft,
03:24 if not the first overall selection.
03:25 So that's going to be a huge challenge for us.
03:27 Marion Hampton, the running back is a big physical runner.
03:31 And he's played really well and saw him play in high school and no surprise there.
03:38 Head receiver, Tez Walker transferred from Kent State is playing at a high level and
03:43 then JJ Jones, whose dad obviously played at West Virginia.
03:47 And so a guy that we really recruited hard and happy for him for the success he's had.
03:52 Hope he doesn't have it versus us in the bowl.
03:55 And then defensively, led by Gene Chizik, obviously national champion coach, one of
04:00 the top defensive minds in college football.
04:02 The thing that sticks out to me is they mix their fronts up and they're huge up front.
04:08 Be one of the biggest fronts we've played all year.
04:12 I think it starts for them with their linebacker, Gray.
04:17 They do a good job blitzing him, bringing him off the edge.
04:19 He's their leading tackler, tackles for the ball, sacks.
04:22 Really a high end player.
04:24 And then on the edge, Rucker is a guy that's had a lot of success rushing the passer.
04:30 And they're a veteran group on defense.
04:32 A lot of graduates, a lot of seniors.
04:35 And in the secondary, they're really long.
04:37 We got the guy, Chapman, that's a really good player.
04:40 They got several transfers that have stepped up and played well for him in the secondary.
04:46 So kind of brief update on North Carolina, really a quality opponent.
04:50 We're gonna have our hands full with them without any doubt.
04:54 Here's our plan, just to give you guys so you got an understanding.
04:59 This week is the last week of classes for our guys.
05:02 And we're staying sharp.
05:04 There's been a lot of time with Coach Joseph, doing a little bit of football work.
05:07 But we'll start practicing again on Saturday and Sunday.
05:13 And then next week is finals week.
05:16 And so we won't have football activities.
05:19 We'll pick back up on Friday.
05:22 And I don't have those dates.
05:23 I think it's the 16th maybe.
05:25 But we'll start really North Carolina prep there.
05:31 And we'll practice Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, give the guys some time off.
05:37 And then really get into our game week starting on the 22nd.
05:42 And then we'll leave to come to Charlotte on the 23rd.
05:44 And so that's kind of our plan.
05:46 Again, excited about the opponent, excited about the location.
05:50 And really the goals for us is to make this an enjoyable experience for our players and
05:55 get a ninth win.
05:56 And so that's it for me.
05:59 So with that, I'll take questions.
06:01 Greg.
06:02 >> Thank you very much, Coach.
06:04 Members of the media, Mr. Morrison has agreed to stay on with us throughout our Zoom conference
06:10 today.
06:11 So any questions for Mr. Morrison or Coach Brown will be accepted.
06:16 Please use the raised hand feature.
06:18 And as Coach said, our first question will go to Greg Hunter.
06:22 >> So Mr. Morrison, let's start with you a little bit.
06:25 The Big 12 was not part of the bowl contract for you guys.
06:29 So give us a little bit of the Reader's Digest version of how this came about when you started
06:35 to get an inkling that maybe you'd not have an SEC team in your bowl and how ultimately
06:41 got to WVU.
06:42 >> Well, first of all, the whole bowl season, you end up playing whack a mole almost every
06:50 year.
06:51 This one just had more of them.
06:52 And so things worked out beautifully.
06:56 Sometimes you make the sausage and you hope you have a wonderful outcome, which we did.
07:02 And the fact that the Big 12 had an extra bowl eligible team certainly worked well in
07:09 our favor.
07:10 And ESPN has always been great about helping in all the bowl, in all of bowl season.
07:18 And so this just worked out where Big 12 has an extra team.
07:24 West Virginia is a perfect fit for us in our bowl, and we're able to get a quality opponent
07:29 in North Carolina.
07:31 So it's one of those days where they seem to be moving parts all throughout the day.
07:39 And then you get thrilled with the matchup that you have at the end.
07:43 >> Greg, do you have a follow-up?
07:45 >> Not right now, let somebody else go.
07:50 I'll jump in later.
07:51 >> Okay, we'll go to our next question to Cody Nesper.
07:55 >> Hey, Neil, I guess somebody's got to ask, but one, do you like mayonnaise?
08:01 And two, are you willing to take the mayonnaise bath if you win?
08:05 >> I plead the fifth on the first question.
08:08 Yes, I gladly take, if that means a ninth win, I'll gladly take the bath.
08:14 >> Our next question goes to Kevin Kender.
08:19 >> Thanks, Mr. Morrison, can you tell us all of the entities that are involved in that
08:26 day of bowl selections?
08:27 It kind of seems like a throwback to some of the old days when all the different bowls
08:32 were jockeying for position.
08:34 And I know you have the ties that you got to fulfill, but what people are on the phone
08:39 or talking to each other?
08:41 And are there proposals being made?
08:43 Hey, match this team and this team, this is what we want?
08:47 >> No, I wouldn't say proposal, it's just as you work through all of the various scenarios,
08:54 you try to come out with what might make the most sense.
08:58 And with West Virginia sitting in close proximity to Charlotte, and I've always said that when
09:06 teams the best bowl experiences are when fans can drive.
09:12 You have more fans, better environment.
09:16 And so geography, in this particular case, worked in our favor.
09:25 >> We'll go to Mike Asty.
09:28 >> Okay, guys, Neil, just obviously you guys probably were aware of some projections that
09:37 were out there before this landed on the bowl.
09:41 So just your number one, just your initial reaction, and if there was any surprise there,
09:47 because obviously this wasn't an initial tie in and kind of involved some moving and shaking
09:51 to make this happen.
09:52 And then number two, just on the opportunity with as you said, this being a team that was
09:57 ranked and is a team that is also a program that's been in, I believe their 38th bowl,
10:02 this is W's 40th, versus some of the projections of group of five opponents.
10:07 Like how that outlook would have been different for you and then your reaction to this being
10:10 the game?
10:11 >> Yeah, so last week was an interesting week and I've done this long enough now where there's
10:20 a lot of unknowns.
10:22 The bowl systems changed quite a bit in the last few years.
10:27 It used to be the case after your last game, you'd have a pretty good understanding of
10:31 where you might go.
10:34 For us, the pendulum kind of swung back several different ways last week.
10:40 And I was sitting, Dax had a basketball game last Sunday afternoon and Wren called and
10:46 said, hey, I know this is a little bit out of left field, but what do you think?
10:52 And really where we were the whole time was we wanted to play a power five opponent in
10:57 the bowl game.
10:58 I felt like that was important and that was really where we had centered our discussions
11:04 on.
11:05 And so I don't know if it was 12, 31 o'clock on Sunday when Wren called and presented and
11:12 I thought it was a tremendous opportunity.
11:14 For the same reason I said in the opening statement, it's a six hour drive from Morgantown,
11:19 even closer for Southern West Virginia.
11:22 I've done several events in Charlotte and so I know there's a lot of Mountaineers there.
11:27 It's an area that we recruit.
11:28 It's in our six hour radius that we consider a local area.
11:34 I thought if we could play an ACC team in a bowl game, it was a good fit just because
11:40 there's either regional rivalries or games that our fans would be interested in.
11:47 And so when it came up, now the rest of Sunday was interesting.
11:52 I didn't know I was in a home visit with a recruit.
11:55 You usually find out and they can tell you this, you usually find out your bowl assignment
12:00 pretty quick.
12:01 And the ACC, which I think has been well documented here over the last day or so, took a long
12:07 time.
12:08 And so I didn't find out our bowl assignment until I was sitting in a home visit, 6.30
12:13 or so Eastern time on Sunday night.
12:16 Couldn't be more pleased.
12:18 Great location, great bowl game.
12:20 I already talked to several head coaches that have been in the game and talked about the
12:23 experience their players have.
12:24 So we're looking forward to that.
12:26 And then just talking about North Carolina, yeah, extremely talented team.
12:31 We're ranked for a good portion of the year.
12:34 Have some high end talented players.
12:36 Several guys on that roster will get drafted.
12:39 And so it's going to be an intriguing matchup for sure.
12:45 We will go back to Greg Hunter.
12:48 So, Neil, you're in Vegas with Zach.
12:51 So give us a little bit of insight on to his health, Preston Fox's health, any other injuries.
12:56 And then you mentioned player retention.
13:00 Can you give us a little bit of thought on who's going to and who's not going to be available
13:03 for the bowl game?
13:05 Greg, you're testing my education levels here.
13:10 You gave me about three questions in one.
13:11 So let me start with the first one.
13:14 Zach had successful surgery.
13:18 And he's well in the world to recovery.
13:21 He's a big guy to be going around in crutches, but we got him out here and I thought it was
13:26 important for him to be able to experience this.
13:29 You know, the Campbell Trophy is so special.
13:30 I think he's got a legitimate chance to win.
13:34 Really upset.
13:35 I think it's totally unfair that he wasn't in the finalist for the Remington Award, which
13:40 goes to Top Center.
13:42 I've seen all those guys and in due respect, you know, I think he's the best center in
13:46 the country.
13:47 And I think a lot of NFL people believe that as well.
13:50 And so really disappointing.
13:52 Same feelings I had on the Remington Award.
13:54 I have on the Joe Moore Award that goes to the best offensive line in the country.
13:57 I think it was short sighted.
13:59 We ended the regular season as the number one rushing offense in the country.
14:04 We've given up one of the fewest number of sacks in the country.
14:07 And I don't know what other what else you use to measure O-line success.
14:13 And then Zach's been our leader of that group.
14:15 And for him not to get in the Remington Award finals, I think is really a shame.
14:20 And so I want to make sure I let my thoughts be known on that.
14:24 And then back to Preston, I think it's too early to tell whether he's going to be available
14:29 in the bowl game or not.
14:31 He's recovering.
14:33 It's going to be it's a little bit of a process.
14:36 So I think I don't know if we'll know that until we really get in the game week on the
14:41 22nd.
14:43 So I think he's questionable.
14:45 As far as retention is going, you know, that's something we spent a lot of time on last week
14:50 and it's going to be ongoing.
14:52 It's a different world, y'all follow it.
14:55 Our hope is that we can hold on to our to our main players.
14:59 And you're going to lose some that's just kind of that's just normal.
15:05 And you're going to lose some, but but we hope we can keep them all together.
15:08 And then, you know, sure, I'm sure we'll have a little bit of activity after the bowl game
15:12 as well.
15:13 And but I'm pleased where it's at.
15:16 But it's also very fluid, and it'll be fluid all the way to when the portal closes.
15:22 We'll go back to Mike Asti.
15:24 Hey, Neil, just on that note to kind of follow up, and I know you're not going to get into
15:31 a particular player in particular, but just wondering your thoughts on because the way
15:36 things go, there are players that may have been with your program in the past that then
15:41 chose to leave, entered the portal with another program and are now back in the portal.
15:47 What is your philosophy on if you had a player, he departed?
15:52 And then would you be interested potentially in bringing a player like that back?
15:55 Or is it kind of like once you break up with a girlfriend or boyfriend, you, you don't
15:59 want to jump back in for whatever reason?
16:01 Like where is your thoughts on that?
16:03 Because there are some players that are fans talk about even though you maybe won't get
16:07 into particulars.
16:08 Yeah, I think it's quality.
16:09 That's quality question.
16:10 Fair.
16:11 And so it'll be on a case by case.
16:14 A lot of it depends on how they how they exited the program.
16:17 I think that's what's what's really important.
16:21 How they handle themselves on the way out.
16:23 Are there guys that that we will welcome back?
16:26 Yes, the answer will be yes.
16:28 Are there some that we would not welcome back?
16:30 And the answer that would be yes as well.
16:31 So it's going to be evaluated on case by case, but it's definitely not where you know, the
16:38 answer is no, we'll never welcome because that's not the case.
16:40 There's some guys that that left for some reasons that that that I understood.
16:47 You know, I would love to capital but I did understand kind of where they were at that
16:51 point.
16:52 And they handled themselves in the right manner and did it in the right way.
16:57 And so if those guys wanted to come back, then then we would welcome them back.
17:02 But but it's going to be on a case by case.
17:06 Our next question goes to Kenan Cummings.
17:08 Hey, Neil, you mentioned kind of a lot of the overlap with the players they have.
17:14 How important is a game like this to recruiting?
17:16 And secondly, you told me to ask this next time I talked to you.
17:20 So what positions are you targeting in the transfer?
17:23 Will your move forward?
17:24 Yeah, I think anytime that you play a game that's going to be nationally televised, and
17:31 I haven't looked at all the time windows.
17:33 I'm not sure if we go head to head with another game or not.
17:37 But I don't think we do.
17:38 I see that.
17:39 Yeah, so that's good.
17:40 So that's the that's the really intriguing part about bowl games is you're you're going
17:46 you don't, you know, we play on a Saturday night.
17:49 You know, we play Baylor.
17:50 I think there was either between six and eight games on during that time, time slot, where
17:57 when you play in the bowl games, you're not going head to head.
18:00 So your viewership is going to go up, you get the casual fan.
18:04 And so anytime you have a lot of eyeballs on you, I think it's really important from
18:08 a recruiting standpoint, really important from a branding standpoint.
18:11 So so answer that, yes.
18:15 And so when you going back to the portal, and I'll give you some generalities, just
18:20 so you just so you know, you know, I think, you know, offensively, we're going to be really
18:26 careful.
18:27 I think the thing the thing that you all need to understand when you when you talk about
18:32 portal, there's there's really two areas you go for immediate help.
18:36 And then there's also where you go.
18:40 And you're really from a mindset standpoint, it's the same as high school recruiting.
18:44 So guys with multiple years, right.
18:47 And so what we've done is we've gone through and said, Okay, this is the this is our high
18:51 school spots.
18:53 And so like receiver, for instance, you know, we currently have a certain number of commits
19:00 at receiver, we probably were going to take one or two more.
19:05 If a portal, if there's a guy that goes into the portal, especially if we have familiarity
19:09 with them, we recruited them coming out of high school, and they have three or more years
19:13 left, we'll count them as a high school in a high school spot.
19:18 And, and we could potentially do that at the offensive line, if it's a guy that has three
19:22 or more years, we have to committed right now, we want to take two more high schools
19:26 spots.
19:27 So if there's somebody in the portal that we that's a fit for us, we can take them in
19:31 a high school spot.
19:32 So don't always when you look at who we're taking in the portal, don't think all that's
19:37 going to be immediate help.
19:38 No, that's a guy that maybe we think is a developmental guy, that's going to replace
19:41 one of our high school spots.
19:42 But so on offense, you know, receiver, we'd like to take one proven guy and put them in
19:49 that room.
19:50 That's a group that I think blal Marshall's done a tremendous job.
19:53 And we really like the guys we have in there.
19:55 And I really think you know, we had a couple guys depart, you know, early in the year,
19:58 which was fine.
19:59 But those young guys really got better as a year as a year went.
20:03 And so I'm excited about the potential those young guys.
20:06 And then defensively, we need numbers that linebacker, you know, and those are to help
20:11 on special teams and on linebacker, some of the issues we've had on special teams been,
20:15 we don't have enough mid bodies, and we've been really thin in the secondary.
20:19 And so in the secondary is going to be the be the primary we're going to focus on in
20:25 the portal.
20:26 And we'd also like to add a pass rusher.
20:29 So that's kind of, but the secondary is going to be first and foremost.
20:35 Cody Nesper.
20:36 And they'll just want to ask about Mac Brown.
20:43 So he's been a head coach, a division one head coach almost as long as you've been alive.
20:49 Is it is it hard to kind of imagine being a head coach for as long as he has, and especially
20:54 as successful as he's been?
20:56 Yeah, well, I don't think I'm gonna make it that long.
20:59 I'm gonna say that right now.
21:01 I'm not gonna make it that long.
21:02 So a lot of respect.
21:03 There's a lot of wisdom there.
21:05 A lot of wisdom.
21:07 And I'm not sure how coach is, but man, he's got a lot of energy.
21:11 I've seen a lot of their games and I've seen him in press conferences, had handles himself
21:16 and buddy did a really good job in TV when he was doing that as well.
21:20 You know, I was, you know, as a coordinator, I faced him a couple times at Texas.
21:26 So yeah, he's done it for a really long time.
21:29 If you look at it, I was just kind of looking at his bio yesterday.
21:33 Going through from when he was at and then all the way through his coaching career.
21:39 And, you know, I'll tell you what really stood out to me is the success.
21:43 And I knew this because I was old enough to understand.
21:45 But the success he had in North Carolina the first time was was was really incredible.
21:56 Kevin Kinder.
21:58 For Mr. Morrison, in your time working with bowl games, how has it changed?
22:05 I mean, we see obviously some of the ways that they have changed from the outside, from
22:10 the inside, not only selection, but the operation, what bowls can do, how they promote the game,
22:16 what things have changed that you've seen?
22:18 Well, it's been it's actually changed a lot in the short period that I've been a part
22:24 of.
22:25 It's been four years.
22:26 I've been in college athletics for a long time and in the pros for a while.
22:30 And this is my came to the foundation in 2019.
22:37 And even in that short period, we've seen we've seen change.
22:43 I think what I do respect is the fact that, like I said earlier, we're we're not unlike
22:51 conferences where in a conference team, a competes against team B, C, D and so forth.
22:58 But you also ask them to cooperate under the conference umbrella.
23:03 And it's all held together by trust.
23:05 And that's what we try to do in in the bowl season.
23:10 And I think, well, you know, you're just going to it's just it's just like college athletics
23:17 over the last four years and all the changes we've seen there.
23:22 It's just an evolving enterprise.
23:25 And we've continued to see change in the in the bowl side.
23:32 Our next question is from Bob Hertzel.
23:36 Yeah, I know.
23:40 And this is something that that's kind of one that one about in retaining players.
23:45 How do you the trust is not part of your department at all.
23:51 How do you coordinate and corral the recruiting of who gets what and who they should be offering
23:58 money to or, you know, how does that work?
24:01 Well, it's it's a it's a complicated process, first off.
24:05 And complicated question.
24:08 And and so, you know, we're college football is right now.
24:13 It's I don't know how to explain it, Bob.
24:16 Really, it's a we're in a we're in a unique time where I'm a proponent.
24:22 You all know this, like players should get paid.
24:25 There should be, you know, we're in a business model where college football has never been
24:32 more profitable.
24:33 And the guys on the field definitely deserve their share.
24:40 And I think we're at a point where we really got to evaluate how we're doing that, you
24:44 know, because the current model is, is just not a very good one.
24:50 And so we think we've got to really evaluate how we're compensating our guys.
24:53 And I haven't had a chance to look at what Charlie Baker put out today.
24:57 I know he put out something kind of addressing some of this.
25:01 But revenue sharing is definitely something that needs to be evaluated.
25:06 And how do we get these guys compensated in a way that's fair is something that's going
25:13 on.
25:14 But no, the trust is not part of of anything to do with our athletic department.
25:20 Their partner, and a great partner and something that's that's extremely important right now.
25:26 And we're in the process of continuing to raise funds and to try to grow the amount
25:31 of dollars we have that that can can benefit our players.
25:36 But that they there's some different metrics that they use to determine what market value
25:42 is.
25:45 Our final question today comes from Mike Kizaza.
25:49 Danny, if I can go back to you for a second, just on the selection process.
25:55 I'm curious when you have an opening like this, what access do you have to other conferences
26:00 and other schools?
26:02 And then I guess that goes both ways.
26:03 What access do they have to you and do schools and alumni leaders and athletic directors
26:08 do they lobby and say, look at our offensive stats, look at our fan geography, proximity,
26:13 all those variables too?
26:15 Well, probably all of the above, but mainly it's conversations.
26:20 Who's got excess teams, who's got teams, not enough teams to fill their bowls.
26:27 And then how what makes the most sense as far as geography and matchups.
26:34 And so it really came down in this situation to geography and a great matchup between two
26:43 excellent programs and with great leaders, both named Brown.
26:51 I believe Kevin Kinder, did you want to close this out?
26:55 You came in there just a minute ago.
26:58 Yes, really quickly.
26:59 Neil, one question about the game itself and the reaction.
27:03 You know, the narrative the past few years of some of the non championship bowls being
27:08 lessened in importance.
27:10 What was your team's reaction?
27:11 What was the program's reaction when you've been able to talk to some guys and tell them,
27:15 hey, we're going here?
27:16 Yeah, we had a team meeting yesterday morning and really positive.
27:19 I think guys are excited.
27:20 They like the location.
27:21 A lot of their families are going to be able to drive to the game, which is important in
27:27 the matchup.
27:28 You know, I think they're excited about the matchup.
27:30 So yeah, our guys are ready to get to work and they're enjoying a little downtime, which
27:36 is needed after a long season, but they're ready to get back in and look forward to facing
27:40 a quality team, working to get our ninth win.