Les Koenning Jr. (born February 10, 1959) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach. During his career, he has served as offensive coordinator for Duke, Houston, Alabama, Texas A&M, South Alabama, Mississippi State, Texas, UAB, and Kansas. He retired in 2020.

Coaching career

At Texas A&M, Koenning had called plays from the press box, with head coach

Dennis Franchione Dennis Wayne Franchione (born March 28, 1951), also known as Coach Fran, is a retired American football coach. He is the former head football coach at Texas State University, a position he held from 1990 to 1991, when the school w ...

. In November 2007, the Aggies upset 13th-ranked Texas 38–30. Koenning, known for his recruiting skills recruited top players such as

Ryan Tannehill Ryan Timothy Tannehill III (born July 27, 1988) is an American football quarterback for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Texas A&M, where he was a wide receiver until his junior year, an ...

and

Martellus Bennett Martellus Demond Bennett (born March 10, 1987) is a former American football tight end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. He played college football at Texas A&M and was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the second ...

. After leaving A&M, Koenning was hired by

Joey Jones Joseph Patrick Jones (born 4 March 1955) is a Welsh former international football full-back who most notably played for Liverpool, with whom he won two European Cups. Club career Wrexham Jones was born in Llandudno, and joined Wrexham in 19 ...

at the

University of South Alabama The University of South Alabama (USA) is a public research university in Mobile, Alabama. It was created by the Alabama Legislature in May, 1963, and replaced existing extension programs operated in Mobile by the University of Alabama. The first ...

, which was getting ready to play its debut season in 2009. In December 2008,

Dan Mullen Dan Mullen (born April 27, 1972) is a former college football player and coach, and current television analyst with the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and ESPN. He served as the head football coach at Mississippi State University from ...

, the new head coach at

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univers ...

, hired Koenning to coach the offense, though his specific role had not yet been revealed at the time. Mullen announced that Koenning would serve as offensive coordinator in February 2009. Koenning previously coached receivers at Mississippi State under then-head coach

Rockey Felker Rockey Felker (born February 1, 1953) is a former quarterback, head football coach, and retired as director of player personnel for Mississippi State University, in Starkville, Mississippi after the 2017 season. After serving three different stin ...

, during the late 1980s. Though he was replaced after the 1990 season at MSU by Jackie Sherrill, Felker serves today as MSU's director/coordinator of recruiting. Koenning recruited and coached MSU star Quarterback

Dak Prescott Rayne Dakota Prescott (born July 29, 1993) is an American football quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Mississippi State, where he twice received first-team All- SEC honors, a ...

Personal life

Koenning was recruited to play Quarterback by Darryl Royal at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

but ended up playing Wide Receiver and led the team as Captain. He went on to get his Masters and was a graduate assistant. He is married to Lisa Koenning, and has two children Lana Koenning and Les Koenning. His father Les Koenning Sr was a successful Texas high school football Head coach bringing teams to state championships at Hamshire-Fannett, Memorial and Cypress Creek. His cousin

Vic Koenning Victor Emanuel Koenning Jr. (born February 26, 1960) is a former professional American football player, and current defensive coordinator at Louisiana–Monroe. He was the interim head coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 20 ...

has served as a defensive coordinator for several teams, among them

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, where he also served as interim head coach.

References

External links

UAB profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koenning, Les Jr. 1959 births Living people American football wide receivers Alabama Crimson Tide football coaches Duke Blue Devils football coaches Houston Cougars football coaches Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football coaches Miami Dolphins coaches Mississippi State Bulldogs football coaches Rice Owls football coaches South Alabama Jaguars football coaches Southern Miss Golden Eagles football coaches TCU Horned Frogs football coaches Texas A&M Aggies football coaches Texas Longhorns football coaches Texas Longhorns football players UAB Blazers football coaches Sportspeople from San Antonio Players of American football from San Antonio