West Virginia and defensive coordinator Vic Koenning agreed to a mutual separation Wednesday following an investigation into his alleged mistreatment of players.
Mountaineers safety Kerry Martin Jr. claimed on social media last month that Koenning called him “retarded” and made inappropriate remarks about religion, politics and the recent protests against racism and police brutality.
Head coach Neal Brown said in a statement that parting ways with Koenning “places us in the best position to positively move forward.”
Koenning, 60, issued an apology “to anyone who perceived something I said or did as hurtful.”
“I wish to thank all the current and former players, coaches and colleagues — of all different ethnicities and backgrounds — whose support and encouragement have been invaluable to me and my family,” he said in a statement, per ESPN.
“I am relieved the process is over but will be forever changed by the experience. Personally, I’d love to get back to coaching our guys, but I know that doing so would create additional scrutiny and lingering distractions for our program. Taking all this into consideration, we have come to this mutual decision to separate.”
Koenning had been on administrative leave since June 23.
He joined the WVU staff in 2019 after holding the same position under Brown at Troy from 2015-18. Koenning was the head coach at Wyoming from 2000-02 and as the interim head coach at Illinois in 2011.
