With West Virginia and defensive coordinator/safeties coach Vic Koenning mutually agreeing to part ways, there are questions as to who exactly will take over Koenning’s duties.
According to a West Virginia official, the plan is for head coach Neal Brown to announce a decision with his staff either later on this week or early next week.
While hiring someone outside the program could be a possibility, it’s very unlikely considering the economics side of things as well as the quick turnaround with 20-hour weeks for football programs beginning July 24 and fall camp slated to begin on August 7.
Hiring in-house would ease the transition process and increase the likelihood that the defense’s 4-2-5 scheme remains the same.
WVSports.com takes a closer look at which current members of the West Virginia football coaching staff could take over defensive coordinator duties as well as coaching the safeties.
If West Virginia is going to have someone already on the staff take over the defensive coordinator duties, then current defensive line coach Jordan Lesley may be the frontrunner.
Lesley has been a defensive coach his entire coaching career and served as the defensive coordinator for three different junior colleges (Kilgore, Northwest Mississippi C.C. and East Mississippi C.C.).
During his three seasons at EMCC, Lesley’s defenses allowed an average of just 10.3 points per game.
Yes, the defensive coordinator experience he has is at the JUCO level and yes, there are two other defensive coaches on the staff who have experience being a defensive coordinator.
But those two coaches, inside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator Jeff Koonz and outside linebackers coach Donate Wright aren’t likely going to be tabbed for this role considering they were just brought on board a few months ago.
Lesley has experience in the role and has also worked with Koenning since 2016, so a likely scenario could be Lesley being elevated to the role and keeping the same 4-2-5 scheme.
If Lesley takes over the duties, it’s also possible he’ll continue to coach the defensive line much like Koenning who coached safeties while handling the defensive coordinator role.
With Lesley likely being the frontrunner if West Virginia goes in-house, the next logical option is secondary coach Jahmile Addae.
Addae once suited up as a player in the gold and blue and is one of two defensive coaches currently on the staff that was brought on when Brown, Koenning and company made the move from Troy to Morgantown (the other is Lesley).
Aside from a stint at Cincinnati where he coached running backs from 2010-2011, Addae’s focus in coaching has been on the defensive side of the ball. Prior to arriving in Morgantown as a member of Brown’s staff, he served as the defensive backs coach at Arizona and Minnesota.
Addae doesn’t have any experience as a defensive coordinator, but having one full year of coaching under his belt at West Virginia and the fact that he’s coached the current defense would make him a viable in-house candidate.
Like the Lesley option, having a young coach take over the role who’s already on the staff and has worked with the current defense would offer some continuity.
Although Koonz isn’t a likely option considering he’s new to the staff, he has a lot of experience coaching the defensive side of the ball.
As mentioned earlier, Koonz has defensive coordinator experience having served as a co-defensive coordinator at Cincinnati in 2016 and North Texas in 2018. Aside from those gigs, he has coached special teams, linebackers and the secondary and has made coaching stops at Texas, Iowa State, Louisiana Tech, Cincinnati, North Texas and Ole Miss.
Again, Koonz has the experience and could suit the job well, but if West Virginia is looking in-house to fill Koenning’s role, it doesn’t seem likely that they’d go with someone new on the staff and defensive unit.
Casteel officially re-joined the West Virginia program this past March in a defensive analyst role.
He certainly has the credentials if West Virginia decides to have him take on the defensive coordinator duties. He has 33 years of defensive coaching experience which includes 27 years as a defensive coordinator.
Casteel coached at West Virginia from 2001-2011 (spent nine of those years as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach) where he won Big East Defensive Coordinator of the Year in 2008 and helped the program win three BCS bowl games during his tenure in Morgantown.
It’s tough to say just how much Casteel would be considered, if at all, to move from analyst to the defensive coordinator role. But if the Mountaineers want to go that route, he has both the coaching and West Virginia experience as well as the resume to fill the role.
Of course there’s also the option of having Casteel coach the safeties or another position group if any of the staff members above fill the defensive coordinator role and don’t coach their respective group. Over his 33 years of coaching, Casteel has experience coaching defensive line and linebackers.
If Casteel doesn’t coach the safeties, then there’s also the option of a graduate assistant filling the void as well.
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