Troy University Athletics
Football
- Title:
- Defensive Coordinator / Safeties
- Email:
- vkoenning@troy.edu
- Phone:
- 3682
The architect of the some of the nation’s best defenses over the past decade, Vic Koenning returns for his sixth overall season with the Trojans and fourth during his current stint. Koenning previously served as Troy’s defensive coordinator from 2003-04.
His first season back at Troy produced one of the top defensive turnarounds in the country and his second flat out one of the top defenses in the country.
The Koenning-led defense finished the 2016 season second nationally in passes intercepted, fourth in turnovers forced, 17th in rushing defense, 21st holding opponents to 22.1 points per game and 28th in third-down defense.
Defensive end Rashad Dillard was named the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2016; Troy’s first player to win the award since DeMarcus Ware in 2004.
Troy finished the 2016 season 10-3 with a victory in the Dollar General Bowl, the first top-25 ranking in school and Sun Belt Conference history and the best win-improvement in the country.
The Trojans finished the 2015 season with the second-best turnaround nationally in opponent 3rd-down percentage (14.62 percent), the fourth-best turnaround in yards per play allowed (-1.13), the fifth-best improvement in tackles for loss per game (2.59) and 16th-best improvement in total defense (-62.7).
Troy held opponents to 391.2 yards per game, an improved of 62.8 yards from the previous season and the first time under 400 yards since the 2008 season.
Troy scored five defensive touchdowns, the third most in the country and most by a Troy team since 2004.
Bandit Tyler Roberts earned first team All-Sun Belt honors and finished sixth nationally with 1.55 tackles for loss per game.
In 2017, Troy finished fourth nationally with a school record 112 tackles for loss (third with 8.62 per game), while also finishing seventh with 3.23 sacks per game. Former walk-on Hunter Reese would go on to earn First Team All-Sun Belt honors.
Troy led the nation in red zone defense in 2017 as the Trojans set a school record for wins (FBS), won the Sun Belt Championship and ended LSU’s 49-game non-conference home winning streak. He was named a Broyles Award nominee for the seventh time in his career.
Additionally, Troy became just the sixth team in the previous eight seasons to not allow a play of 50 or more yards over the course of a season. The Trojans established a new school record as they held eight opponents under the 100-yard rushing mark. Troy finished the season having allowed just 18.5 points, 105.3 rushing yards and 336.5 total yards per game.
Koenning returned to Troy after spending three seasons as the assistant head coach for defense at North Carolina. The 28-year coaching veteran also coached safeties and inside linebackers during his tenure in Chapel Hill.
Following a dominating run at Troy that led to the school’s first bowl appearance, Koenning produced four top-16 defenses at Clemson from 2005 to 2008 and orchestrated a pair of extreme turnarounds at Kansas State and Illinois. While at Clemson, he accomplished something no other Tiger defensive coordinator had achieved in the school’s history as each of his four defenses finished in the top 25 in scoring, total defense and pass efficiency defense.
Troy’s Koenning-led defense finished the 2004 season ranked sixth nationally in pass efficiency (100.6), eighth in rushing (100.9), 10th in scoring (16.7) and 16th in total defense (311.0). In the second game of the year, the Trojans defeated No. 19 Missouri as Koenning’s defense pitched a shutout over the game’s final 52 minutes.
He left Troy in 2005 to become the defensive coordinator at Clemson and had immediate success as the Tigers finished 11th in the nation in scoring defense (17.6) in his first season. Koenning developed several Clemson players who went on to play in the NFL. In 2006, cornerback Tye Hill was a first round pick, while defensive end Gaines Adams was the No. 4 overall selection in 2007. Defensive end Phillip Merling was the No. 32 overall selection of the 2008 draft by Miami.
The 2007 defensive performance might have been the best of his tenure at Clemson. The Tigers had just one player make first or second team All-ACC despite leading the ACC in pass defense and turnover margin, and finishing second in total and scoring defense. Clemson was ninth in the nation in total defense (307.0) and 10th in scoring defense (18.7). In 2008, Clemson’s defense led the ACC in scoring defense and ranked ninth in the nation by allowing just 16.6 points per game.
Koenning left Clemson and spent one season at Kansas State under Bill Snyder and two seasons at Illinois under Ron Zook. He improved the Illini defense from 91st in the country to seventh in his two seasons. Illinois ranked fourth in the nation in pass defense, fifth in tackles for loss and ninth in sacks. Illinois defensive end Whitney Mercilus led the nation in sacks and was second in tackles for loss. Koenning led Illinois to a 2011 win over UCLA in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl as the team’s interim head coach.
He helped Kansas State improve from 112th in the NCAA in rushing defense in 2008 to 16th in 2009, total defense from 117th to 40th and scoring defense from 110th to 48th.
In 2012, North Carolina finished third in the nation in tackles for loss with more than eight per game.
Prior to his first stint at Troy, Koenning was the head coach at Wyoming from 2000-02 after three years as defensive coordinator. In 1997, Wyoming led the nation in interceptions and was second in sacks.
Koenning served as a full-time assistant coach working with the defensive backs at Memphis from 1991-96 His final year at Memphis was highlighted by a 21-17 upset of No. 6 Tennessee.
A three-year starter, team captain and 1983 graduate at Kansas State, Koenning was the recipient of the Paul Coffman Award, presented to the Wildcat who displays the most outstanding leadership.
Koenning and his wife Tracey have four children, Kimberly, Brady, Camden and Jackson.
