Who is Jeff Koonz? Some Insight on West Virginia's New Defensive Coordinator

A deeper look at the new man in charge of West Virginia's defense.

West Virignia University special teams and inside linebacker coach Jeff Koonz. / Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

Earlier this week, West Virginia head football coach Neal Brown elected to make a change by firing defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley.

The Mountaineers entered the bye week coming off a key win on the road at Arizona but nearly let that one slip away, much like they did the Backyard Brawl earlier in the season. Eight games in, West Virginia ranks 113th nationally out of 133 FBS schools in passing yards allowed per game (261.1) and 84th nationally in total defense (382.5).

It was a move that needed to be made, and now, the Mountaineers will look for a strong finish under Jeff Koonz, who will take over the defensive coordinator responsibilities.

So, who is Jeff Koonz?

The Wallkill, New York native has spent most of his career coaching the linebacking room but has also dipped his toes in special teams before becoming the inside linebackers coach/special teams coordinator at West Virginia in 2020. Because of Koonz's new role, Neal Brown will likely divvy up some of his responsibilities, potentially handing the special teams coordinator role to Tony Thompson or Chris Haering.

Koonz graduated from Auburn University in 2004, serving as a grad assistant on Tommy Tuberville's staff. From 2005-06, he was in the same role at Texas under Mack Brown. In his lone year at Auburn and first year at Texas, those two teams went a combined 26-0 and won a national title with the Longhorns, so this guy knows what winning football looks like.

Toward the end of the 2006 campaign, Koonz landed his first opportunity to coach a position group, being elevated to linebackers coach at Texas. He then left to become the secondary coach and special teams assistant at Iowa State under Gene Chizik for a couple of seasons, where he didn't experience much success. The Cyclones went 5-19 in Chizik's tenure as the header.

After he departed from Iowa State, Koonz briefly returned to Texas and helped guide the team back to another national championship appearance. This led to his next shot at a position group as the linebackers coach at Louisiana Tech from 2010-13. There, his starting linebackers accounted for 65% of the team's tackles in 2011 and coached Adrien Cole to the WAC Defensive Player of the Year award.

In 2014, Koonz reunited with Tommy Tuberville at Cincinnati and served in multiple roles there through 2016 such as safeties coach, linebackers coach, and co-defensive coordinator. When Tuberville resigned from the job, Koonz landed at North Texas spending two years there starting as the linebackers coach before being promoted to co-defensive coordinator. He then left to coach linebackers at Ole Miss for one season before landing in Morgantown in 2020.

What will change?

When you're eight games into a season, it's difficult to make significant changes as far as scheme goes. This will be more about putting guys in a position to succeed and understanding what personnel packages need to be in the game in key situations.

Koonz is an extremely bright football coach. If you haven't heard him speak, I'd encourage you to go search some of his press conferences while at WVU and you'll see exactly what I mean. Does that high level of IQ translate to him fixing all of the defense's issues in the final month of the season? I don't know, but if there's a guy on that side of the ball who has the experience of helping lead an entire unit and has the intangibles to do it, it's Koonz.

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