MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Asked to assess the oddity of coaching against someone who essentially recruited his entire defense, West Virginia’s Vic Koenning didn’t fear invoking the name of you-know-who.



“You’re talking about Gibby?” Koenning said. “You can say Gibby — it’s not Voldemort.”



In a week already made awkward by former defensive coordinator Tony Gibson returning to town adorned in N.C. State colors, the notion of the Mountaineers’ current coordinator referencing “Harry Potter” seemed appropriately bizarre.



Gibson, of course, very much wanted the West Virginia head coaching job last winter when Dana Holgorsen left, and he received backing from a host of current and former players. Yet Gibson hadn’t been a successful sitting head coach, which meant he lacked the No. 1 criteria preferred by athletics director Shane Lyons.



Though Gibson ultimately landed an interview...