Illinois’ Vic Koenning making most of time

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Updated: January 31, 2012 8:25AM

SAN FRANCISCO — Early in the season, when the Illini were piling up points and winning games, some fans were trying to figure out ways to lose Ron Zook and make offensive coordinator Paul Petrino the head coach.

After the regular season was over, when the offense had sputtered and Zook had been fired, no one seemed to mind that Petrino quickly ran a fly pattern back to his brother’s Arkansas staff.

By then, everyone had a greater appreciation for second-year defensive coordinator Vic Koenning. He molded a defense that made Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin sweat. On top of that, since being named interim coach for Illinois’ Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl meeting with UCLA on Saturday (2:30 p.m., ESPN), Koenning has handled a difficult situation with class and integrity.

“He didn’t have to do this,” quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase said. “He didn’t have to put this on his shoulders, but he has. He’s not looked out for his own interests, but for everybody else’s interests. I respect him a lot. I’ve been amazed by what he’s done since he was named interim head coach.”

Koenning, 51, has attacked Illinois’ woeful special-teams problems with creative motivation. He has trusted interim offensive coordinator Jeff Brohm to come up with a game plan. And he has made it a priority to rebuild the confidence of a team that lost its last six games.

“He keeps this whole process fun,” defensive end Whitney Mercilus said. “He keeps us well rested, keeps the clutter out of our heads, keeps it on a positive note. And he keeps reminding us of what we have to play for.”

Knowing that Koenning is a fan favorite, and respecting the stout defenses he built previously at Clemson and Kansas State, new coach Tim Beckman reached out.

Not comfortable with joining Beckman’s staff, Koenning humbly declined. He reportedly has accepted an offer to be defensive coordinator at North Carolina. That won’t be easy, either. The Tar Heels are awaiting their NCAA fate for infractions under former coach Butch Davis.

Koenning gave Beckman an honest appraisal of where the Illinois program is at but declined to share a view that could put a burden on players and coaches.

“I don’t avoid many questions,” said Koenning, who has been candid during his two years in Champaign. “Opinions are like a body part; we’ve all got one. I expressed what I thought to coach Beckman. It’s his program now. I wish the guys the best of luck.”

Koenning said he’ll continue to root for the Illini players he knows, just as he roots for the seniors he coached at Clemson, which is playing in the Orange Bowl, and the players he coached at Kansas State, which is playing in the Cotton Bowl.

A devout and forthright native of Owasso, Okla., who likes to say “dadgum” and speaks knowingly of climbing barbed-wire fences, Koenning went 5-29 as Wyoming’s head coach from 2000 to ’02.

That was a trial by fire that will serve him well if another school is smart enough to give him the reins of its football program.

“I’m not someone that’s eaten up with [being a head coach again],” Koenning said. “The Wyoming deal, as bad as that record seems, we couldn’t compete with the teams we played the first couple of years. The last year, we could compete. With one more year, I think we could have turned the corner.”

The Zook staff, which has put Illinois in position to win back-to-back bowl games for the first time, thought it had earned another year.

But Koenning will ride out of Central Illinois with his head held high. He held up his end of the deal.