West Virginia director of athletics Shane Lyons announced this afternoon the decision to place defensive coordinator Vic Koenning on administrative leave following tweets by a current player about Koenning's behavior.
"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." - Lyons offered.
Sophomore safety Kerry Martin Jr. tweeted today (see full tweets below) alleging Koenning called him "retarded" during a workout and expressed his belief that Koenning's comments made in front of players about religion and politics were inappropriate. Martin also also alleged that his high school coach (who he notes is white) referred to Koenning as having a "slave master mentality".
When reached this afternoon, Martin's high school coach denied ever having said that and noted how much Koenning seems to care for the players adding that Koenning had reached out to the high school coach several times over the past few weeks to ask the high school coach to ensure the player was ok and had access to enough food while away from campus.
Martin later acknowledged what the coach said was true and that Vic had visited him and brought him food; but Martin maintains that Koenning's "thoughts and beliefs are mislead."
Martin retweeted a tweet this evening calling for Koenning to be fired. We will update this story as more facts come to light.
