Illinois Football: Former Illini DC Vic Koenning placed on leave

A former Illinois football defensive coordinator has resurfaced in the news, and not for a good reason.

On Tuesday afternoon, West Virginia safety Kerry Martin Jr. posted on his Twitter page allegations of wrongdoing by current Mountaineers defensive coordinator, Vic Koenning. West Virginia acted swiftly and placed Koenning on administrative leave.

The series of tweets going in-depth on what Martin has seen and heard over the span of about a year and a half. The allegations extend from mistreatment because of beliefs, to Koenning talking about how they should build the wall and keep Hispanics out of the country, to the current protests and how if the people didn’t want tear gassed, then they shouldn’t be protesting. You can read the tweets below.

Martin came into the West Virginia program as a three-star recruit who was the No. 1014 player in the class of 2019 and the No. 84 safety in the nation. Year one went really well for the talented defensive back. He finished his freshman campaign playing in 11 games and accumulating 50 tackles and 3 pass deflections.

While the 2019 campaign was the first for Martin at West Virginia, you can say the same for Koenning. He took over the defensive coordinator duties for the Mountaineers last year after a four-year stint at Troy as their defensive coordinator. If you go back to 2010, you will find the Koenning and Illinois connection.

Koenning was hired as the Illinois defensive coordinator for the 2010 campaign. The Illini had a handful of NFL defensive players on that team, so the program was able to win some games. In the second season with the Illini, Koenning was shifted into the interim head coach role after newly hired athletic director, Mike Thomas, fired then head coach Ron Zook.

Illinois would go on to win the bowl game that Koenning coached in, which brought his career head coaching record to 6-29.