This week, West Virginia football made a change in their coaching staff.
They parted ways with defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley and moved special teams coordinator and inside linebackers coach Jeff Koonz to be the defensive coordinator.
"These decisions are never easy, but I’m confident this change is in the best interest of our program and puts us in the best position to finish strong. Our players have a tremendous opportunity in front of them, and I know they will give their all for WVU. Jeff Koonz will step up and serve as the defensive coordinator moving forward. I know he and our entire staff will do everything they can to help us succeed," West Virginia head coach Neal Brown said upon making the move.
Koonz is certainly no stranger to the defensive side of the ball, as he's been a defensive coach since 2006. Throughout his career, Koonz has coached both in the secondary as well and most of his time spent with the linebacker position.
Koonz also has experience as a coordinator, serving as Cincinnati's co-defensive coordinator in 2016.
Koonz has been around the country during his career, making stops at Auburn and Texas as a graduate assistant, before getting his first coaching position at Texas. He then went to Iowa State for two seasons followed by a trip back to Texas for the 2009 season as a defensive quality control coach.
Koonz would go to Louisiana Tech from 2010-2013 as a linebackers coach before heading to Cincinnati where he would stay from 2014-2016.
Following that stint, he went to North Texas for two seasons to be their linebackers coach, before he served in the same role at Ole Miss in 2019.
Koonz came to WVU in 2020 where he was the special teams coordinator and inside linebackers coach.
Koonz has played a part in helping have solid performances from his group on a yearly basis, including Lee Kpogba who led WVU in tackles each of the last two seasons. Koonz also played a large part in recruiting current linebacker Josiah Trotter who is currently first on the team in tackles this season.
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