UPDATED 8:38 p.m. ET: In a statement, West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons announced that a WVU assistant football coach, defensive coordinator Vic Koenning has been placed on administrative leave, effective immediately.
Below is Lyon’s statement on the day’s development:
“I want to thank Kerry Martin for having the courage to bring his concerns to light. We will not tolerate any form of racism, discrimination or bias on our campus, including our athletic programs. Coach Vic Koenning has been placed on administrative leave effective immediately, and the department will work with the appropriate parties to conduct a thorough investigation into these allegations. This is serious, and we will act appropriately and in the best interests of our student-athletes.”
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(Below is the original post.)
West Virginia is the latest football program to have a player air his grievances with a staff member on social media.
Longtime Iowa strength coach Chris Doyle “parted ways” with the Hawkeyes after he was accused of contributing to “racial disparities in the football program.” Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy was called out by star running back Chuba Hubbard for wearing an OAN t-shirt. The head coach subsequently apologized and promised changes within the program.
Tuesday, West Virginia football player Kerry Martin utilized Twitter to address issues he has with defensive coordinator Vic Koenning. In a lengthy statement, the safety began by writing that “I myself have dealt with mistreatment and racism growing up in West Virginia, but I never would’ve thought I would deal with it while at a school I’m supposed to be able to call home with my own position coach, Vic Koenning.” In addition to coordinating the Mountaineers defense, Koenning also coaches safeties at WVU.
Among Martin’s allegations:
- “In the month of June, 3 weeks after we reported back to campus for summer workouts, I had my first incident with [Koenning] after a mistake I made on the field that he called me retarded for doing the wrong technique. I have family member that are actually mentally ill and for him to say that hurt me because it was an action we could fix.”
- “During the 2019 season [Koenning] was talking about President Trump and how we should ‘build the wall and keep the Hispanics out the country’ and there’s an Hispanic in the position meeting.”
- “The Most recent incident with Coach Vic was in our position meeting on June 22, 2020. Coach Vic tells us about the conversation he [had] with his son about the rioting and protesting and his exact words were, ‘if people did not want to get tear gassed, or push back by the police then they shouldn’t be outside protesting. I then spoke up instantly and asked what he meant by that and he couldn’t give a straight answer.” According to Martin, Koenning apologized to him after the meeting and offered further clarity for his words.
Martin claims he has had meetings with West Virginia head football coach Neal Brown about Koenning’s alleged mistreatment. The player further stated that he has not told anyone in his family about what he perceives to be issues with Koenning because he “didn’t want to bring negativity to the program.”
“No, coach Vic is not a bad person and he does mean well in many [different] aspects,” Martin wrote, “but his heinous actions towards us [overrules] the good things he has done and many of us are uncomfortable with being around him.”
“Enough is enough,” Martin wrote in ending his statement.
Thus far, West Virginia has not commented on the development. Brown already had a previously-scheduled Zoom meeting with the media Wednesday. He’s expected to address the issues at that time.
Koenning has been with Brown the past five seasons. Four of those were spent at Troy along with the 2019 season at WVU.
Martin played in 12 games as a true freshman in 2019. The Charleston native started four of those contests.
I’ve been contemplating about posting but we need a change in our program. pic.twitter.com/40hZYXjxib
— KERRY “KJ” MARTIN JR. 💎 (@_thekerrymartin) June 23, 2020