As many know, West Virginia made a change at defensive coordinator during their bye week.
Jeff Koonz, who was WVU’s inside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator got promoted to the defense’s new play-caller. As he explained during his inaugural press conference in his new leadership role, he has an idea of what needs to be improved defensively and looks to make a smooth transition.
The timing of the change was beneficial; the bye week helped Koonz get adjusted and have a plan.
“It’s been very important the last week since coach (Neal Brown) made the decision to make a change of what we’re trying to gather as a defensive staff what we want to do as a defense. The timing of the bye week helped with that,” Koonz said.
In terms of specifics of what needs to be improved, he mentioned getting lined up faster, making sure his players are aware of calls and emphasized consistency, like Brown did when he addressed the media earlier.
“We’ve got to get lined up as fast as possible. We’ve got to make sure that all 11 guys on that field understand what the call is, how to execute the call and what success they should expect after that call. And I say that the confidence that comes with understanding exactly what we’re trying to accomplish with each and every single call that is made is paramount right now,” Koonz said.”There’s a standard of defense that we have got to put on tape on every single play and making sure that they do that because when you talk about it and you hear coach (Brown), the word inconsistency has been brought up multiple times just inconsistent. And we’ve got to be more consistent. How do you do that? By practicing being consistent.”
In addition to consistency, Koonz said that increasing takeaways is another goal of his defense. Currently, West Virginia’s defense ranks in the bottom 10 of FBS in turnovers with six.
“With that consistency now, that’s hopefully where you see the takeaways. And getting the ball back. Reducing the amount of possessions that we’re going to play on every single game. And understanding that’s a huge part of it,” Koonz said. “So those are two. Obviously, an increase in takeaways and a more consistent brand of football is what we’re hunting for right now.”
Koonz spoke on his experience, seeing this as a huge opportunity—not only for him but also for the defense and team to end the regular season on a high note.
“This is not a promotion. This is an obligation. This is an opportunity right now for us to play really good football in the month of November. As a defense and as a team. And that’s the objective. That’s how I look at it. And I’ve been doing this now for over 20 plus years in college football,” he said. “2016, my last year at Cincinnati, coincidentally enough, was the last year that I called the defense. It was a co-coordinator role. I was more of the passing game coordinator, calling it in conjunction with the defensive line coach. That was a full season that was not a battlefield promotion. That was an offseason that was truly a promotion where the coordinator left, got another opportunity and I was promoted into that role. Since then, I’ve been a co-coordinator for one year at North Texas and then been a position coach ever since. And obviously taken over the special teams coordinator role here.”
Koonz’s first game calling plays for West Virginia will be on Saturday when they take on Cincinnati on the road. Both teams are coming off a bye week and looking to improve their conference record.
The game will kickoff at noon EST and be televised on FS1.
