Vic Koenning: Did He Get a Raw Deal?
Vic Koenning is out as associate head coach for defense for North Carolina’s football team according to reports from Bruce Feldman of FoxSports.com. The North Carolina defense was bad this year, statistically it was very bad. Yet somehow I cannot think that this is all Koenning’s fault. Here’s some reasons why I think Vic Koenning got a raw deal.
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1. Talent Gap
Koenning was responsible for installing the 4-2-5 system, which he did three years ago. When the defense had Butch Davis’ last recruits, it worked. The difference between the defense this year and the defense last year is the absence of those recruits. Kareem Martin and Tim Jackson are in the NFL now, and they handed things off of to…
If Koenning is the cause of poor defensive recruiting, then he deserved to go. However, I am pretty sure that was not entirely his responsibility. The 4-2-5 defense relies on speed at the expense of size. Yet this team didn’t even have anybody to truly man the middle when the season started. Justin Thomason, Nazair Jones, and Ethan Farmer grew into those roles. But the key word is GREW. None is the anchor nose tackle that you would want in the middle. Which leads to me to number 2…
2. Attrition
Koenning never fielded the theoretical defense that he had access to this year. Academic troubles eliminated his one true defensive tackle Shaun Underwood from the team. More academic troubles eliminated Darius Lipford, who left for the NFL supplemental draft after running with the ones in camp.
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3. The Offensive System
Do you want to abuse an outmanned defense? Why not use an offensive system that relies on quick scoring strikes. Peyton Manning never won a Super Bowl early in his career because he was so effective that his defense would get ground down by the opposition. The same thing happens here. If the Fedora spread works, there is not a lot of down time for the defense. If you are crazy deep on defense, that does not matter. This team was not.
Koenning has no control over the offensive playcalling. If Fedora had abandoned the platoon system after the San Diego State game and given the ball to Marquise earlier, then the Heels might have won a couple more games and Koenning keeps his job even with the same defensive performance.
Vic Koenning Out?
The one thing that Koenning deserved to be fired for was the tackling. Geez, the Heels really need to work on tackling. Otherwise I think he was a victim of circumstance. It will be interesting to see what Fedora replaces him with. Fedora brought the 4-2-5 with him, so that is most likely staying.