Hired Feb. 18, 2025, Jeff Koonz begins his first season as a defensive assistant for the Packers. Koonz possesses 21 years of coaching experience at the collegiate level, including the past five seasons at West Virginia.
Koonz served as the special teams coordinator and inside linebackers coach for the Mountaineers (2020-24) and took over as the defensive coordinator for the final five games of the 2024 season. In 2024, K Michael Hayes II connected on 13 of 14 field goals, a 92.9 percentage that ranked No. 2 in the Big 12 and tied for No. 8 in the country (min. one att. per game). In 2023, Koonz helped guide the Mountaineers to a No. 5 ranking in the country in opponent punt return average (0.42). West Virginia was tied for No. 10 in the country with three blocked field goals, including two to seal the win at TCU (Sept. 30), and Hayes checked in at No. 2 in the Big 12 in FG percentage (81.0, 17 of 21).
In 2022, Koonz tutored P Oliver Straw, who earned Freshman All-America honorable mention from College Football News after posting a 42.3-yard punting average and placing 17 punts inside the 20, and K Casey Legg, who tied for No. 8 in the nation in FG percentage (93.3, 14 of 15). Legg was a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award in 2021 when he led the Big 12 and tied for No. 18 nationally in FGs per game (1.58).
In his first season with the Mountaineers in 2020, Koonz was part of a staff that helped the team rank No. 1 in the nation in passing defense (159.6 ypg) and No. 4 in total defense (291.4 ypg) after WVU ranked No. 88 in passing defense (239.9 ypg) and No. 74 in total defense (399.3 ypg) in 2019. The Mountaineers also led the Big 12 in '20 in opponent kickoff return average (19.1) and ranked No. 3 in opponent punt return average (2.8).
Koonz spent the 2019 season as the inside linebackers coach at Ole Miss. Prior to that, he spent two seasons coaching the linebackers at North Texas (2017-18), adding co-defensive coordinator responsibilities in 2018. He was part of a staff that guided the Mean Green to a Conference USA West Division title in 2017 and bowl appearances in both 2017 and 2018.
Koonz spent the previous three seasons at Cincinnati, coaching the safeties (2014) and the linebackers (2015-16) with additional responsibilities as co-defensive coordinator in 2016. He coached former Packers LB Eric Wilson with the Bearcats, who earned first-team All-AAC honors as a senior in 2016 after leading the team with a career-high 129 tackles. Koonz coached linebackers at Louisiana Tech from 2010-13 and tutored LB Adrian Cole, who was named the WAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2011 after leading the team with 128 tackles and 13 tackles for a loss.
Koonz served as a defensive quality control coach at Texas in 2009, where he was part of a staff that helped the Longhorns to a Big 12 title and an appearance in the BCS national title game vs. Alabama. He served as the secondary coach and assisted with special teams at Iowa State in 2007-08. Koonz was a graduate assistant at Texas in 2005-06 and coached the linebackers toward the end of the 2006 campaign. His first coaching job came as a graduate assistant at Auburn in 2004.
Koonz was born May 30, 1982, in Wallkill, N.Y. He earned his bachelor's degree in physical education from Auburn in 2004 and his master's degree in educational administration from Texas in 2006. He and his wife, Maura, have two daughters, Mary Margaret and MacKenzie, and a son, Jameson.
