Last week, during the team’s bye week, West Virginia head coach Neal Brown fired defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley, who had been with him since his time at Troy.
Lesley was WVU’s co-defensive coordinator in 2020, becoming the lone DC in 2021, previously coaching the defensive line. This season, after a 4-4 start to the season for the Mountaineers (3-2 in Big 12 play), where the defense has allowed 261 passing yards and over 28 points per game, Lesley was let go. Inside linebackers coach Jeff Koonz was promoted to interim defensive coordinator.
On Monday, Brown explained his decision, stating his appreciation for Lesley but confidence in Koonz.
“Made a change at DC (defensive coordinator) last week as you know. Appreciate Jordan (Lesley) and his service to our program. Really good man, really good football coach,” Brown said. “Jeff Koonz will take over and is qualified; he’s ready to step up.”
Koonz was also West Virginia’s special teams coordinator. Brown spoke on his leadership, play-calling ability and defensive experience.
“He’s done really well anytime we put him in charge. Whether it’s lead in recruiting, whether it’s on he punt team, where he’s taken the lead, he’s been the organizer on special teams. Always excelled in leadership roles,” Brown said of Koonz. “He’s got experience with linebackers here, but he’s also coached safeties in the past so he can ie the front and the back. And he’s called defense before. So, excited for him.”
In terms of what improvement is needed on defense and what could have ultimately led to his decision, Brown preached consistency.
“I think the consistency is the main issue. At times, we’ve played really good on defense. If you look at the the first three quarters versus Arizona, I would say that’s winning football, if you look at the first half versus Kansas State I’d say that’s winning football, second half versus Kansas that’s winning football. But we just haven’t been consistent,” Brown said.
The timing of the leadership change allowed WVU more time to adjust and make those needed changes. Brown explained the advantages of that but said the structure of the defense will remain the same.
“I think making the change during the bye will allow us to make some tweaks but the structure of our defense is what it is,” he said. “The structure is a structure. What we’ve got to do is we can’t give them (opponents) the answers to the test. We’ve got to do a better job of disguising and whether it’s our movements up front, it’s our coverages in secondary, we got to do a better job of that.”
One of the biggest differences Brown expects will be in Koonz’s leadership style. In terms of the defense’s play, as he notes, only time will tell.
“This is Jeff’s show now like it’s his. And so, you have a different person leading it, so it’s going to be different. His leadership style is different; what he feels comfortable with is different,” Brown said. “We made the change in the hopes it (the defense) will be better, but time will tell, right? We got to go out and be productive on Saturday.”
When asked why he chose Koonz, Brown reiterated his experience and leadership.
“This was a decision we made last week and I think again for the reasons I said, Jeff’s done a really good job with any time he’s been in a leadership role, he’s been in front of our guys a bunch as a special teams coordinator, he’s got the front and the backend experience to tie it together and he’s called defense before,” Brown said. “So I think those things, when the decision was made last week that’s why.”
Fresh off the bye week, West Virginia will play Cincinnati on the road this week. The game kicks off at noon EST and will be televised on FS1.
