An In-Depth Look at the Hiring of Jeff Koonz
The West Virginia football program received good news on Friday evening after Jeff Koonz was named special teams coordinator and inside linebacker’s coach for the Mountaineers.
Koonz most recently served as the inside linebacker’s coach at Ole Miss and will fill the role of Blake Seiler who left the Mountaineers a few weeks ago to become the defensive coordinator at Old Dominion.
The 2004 Auburn graduate began his coaching career at the university as a graduate assistant coach during the 2004 campaign while coaching the secondary under head coach Tommy Tuberville.
Koonz also coached on Auburn teams that reached the 2002 Capital One Bowl Championship as well as the 2004 SEC Championship team.
The Wallkill, New York native then coached at Texas as a graduate assistant in 2005 before taking on the Linebackers coaching position in 2006.
Koonz took on his first full time secondary coaching position at Iowa State from 2007 to 2009 while also assisting with the secondary as well.
His second coaching stop at Texas saw the defensive minded coach lead the Longhorns to a Big 12 Title and an appearance in the 2009 Bowl Championship Series national championship game.
2010 saw Koonz take his journeyed coaching career to Louisiana Tech where three of his linebackers finished with double digit sacks.
A pair of Koonz linebackers in 2011, Adrien Cole and Jay Dudley compiled 230 total tackles while Cole led the team with a whopping 128 tackles and 13 tackles for a loss.
“Jeff is an outstanding addition to our coaching staff,” West Virginia head coach Neal Brown said in a statement. “He brings a vast amount of experience coaching linebackers to our defensive staff and a familiarity with the Big 12 Conference having coached at Texas and Iowa State. His recruiting experience in different regions of the country also will help bolster our overall efforts.
Cincinnati would be the next home for Koonz until 2016 as the coach mentored second-team All-American Athletic Conference selections Eric Wilson and Bryce Jenkinson.
Koonz also helped Cincinnati finish the 2014 season with a 9-4 record and an American Athletic Conference Championship.
Koonz joined North Texas as linebacker’s coach prior to the 2017 season as he helped the Mean Green in a nine-win season before also taking a defensive coaching position at Ole Miss.
The Mountaineers are getting an experienced coach who brings loads of knowledge to the table especially in the Big 12 where Koonz has coached at Texas as well as Iowa State over his many years of coaching.
The linebacker position most likely best fits Koonz as a coach as he holds the most experience at the position than any other position on the field and helped lead Louisiana Tech’s Adrien Cole and Jay Dudley, a pair of powerhouse linebackers, to greatness.
Koonz will also carry the role of being the special teams coordinator as well.
