MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A week after facing his predecessor at West Virginia, Mountaineers defensive coordinator Vic Koenning is taking on his cousin.
Kansas offensive coordinator Les Koenning is a second cousin of Vic. However, the two do not know each other from annual meetings at the family reunion. If they had, there may have been a rumble between aunts and uncles.
“He says it ‘Kenning,’” said Vic, who pronounces his name ‘Ko-ning.’
Pronunciation is not the basis of where things went sour between the respective branches of the family tree.
As Vic explains it, their families went in different directions decades ago due to a Texas-sized quarrel.