WVSports.com continues with our popular feature: The 3-2-1. We'll break down three things we learned that week, two questions we have and give one prediction.
Here is the next installment of the 3-2-1 looking at the West Virginia football program, the latest on basketball and what’s happening in recruiting.
3 things I learned:
1–Bye week brings assistant coach changes. Who said bye weeks allowed for downtime? Because while the Mountaineers didn't play a football game this week, the program still made quite a bit of news with a major move on defense.
West Virginia head coach Neal Brown made the decision to alleviate defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley of his role with the football program after a season full of struggles on that side of the football. The Mountaineers were ranked third worst in the Big 12 in scoring defense and were second to last in passing defense.
The unit's struggles were obviously a major concern and a prime reason for the Mountaineers sitting at 4-4 on the season. That led to Brown firing Lesley from his role which he has held since the 2020 campaign when he inherited it after the issues that cost former defensive coordinator Vic Koenning his job.
The performance of the defense was a hot-button issue for the fan base and was only magnified by breakdowns in recent games that only served to further stoke those coals. Lesley was under contract through Feb. 28, 2026 and was set to make $800,000 next season after being at $775,000 this year. That money is due to Lesley although it can be offset with other employment opportunities in the future.
West Virginia will now hand the keys of the defense over to inside linebackers coach Jeff Koonz for the last four games of the season. This will be a trial run of sorts for the veteran assistant and give an idea of the unit can turn around with a fresh perspective.
This move seemed all but inevitable given the heat around the program and now the focus can turn toward closing the season on the right foot to see if the defense can figure some things out down the stretch. This is the first time that Brown has fired anybody on his staff during the season since he arrived six years ago but it seemed to be the necessary move with how things have trended of late.
2–The Darian DeVries era set to officially open. West Virginia will start the 2024-25 season off with a home matchup against Robert Morris and then will host Massachusetts this coming week for the first two actual games under DeVries.
