Ryan Kuntz is entering his second season as Thiel's defensive coordinator in 2021. He also coaches the team's linebackers.
In his first season as defensive coordinator, Kuntz had two players earn All-Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) accolades – junior free safety Trou Johnson, who earned Second Team recognition, and senior linebacker Matt Crawford, an Honorable Mention selection.
Johnson, wo was an Honorable Mention selection as a freshman and sophomore, notched 78 tackles in 2019, tying him for the seventh most in the conference. He led the team with eight pass breakups, forced two fumbles, recovered two fumbles and recorded one interception. Johnson scored two defensive touchdowns in 2019. His first was on Oct. 5 when he scored on an 86-yard fumble recovery against Waynesburg. His second was on Oct. 12 on a 17-yard interception return against Saint Vincent.
A three-time All-PAC Honorable Mention pick, Crawford tallied 254 career tackles, the eighth-most in program history. He led the PAC in 2019 with an average of 10.1 tackles per game. In his final game as a Tomcat, Crawford made 17 tackles, tying him for the fifth most in a single game in program history.
Crawford was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America Second Team in 2019. He was a member of the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-America First Team. Crawford was also a four-time member of the PAC Academic Honor Roll. Crawford was selected as a member of the 2020 NFF Hampshire Honor Society, which is comprised of football players from all divisions, who maintained a cumulative 3.2 grade-point average or better throughout their college careers.
Kuntz arrived at Thiel after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Albright College in Reading, Pa. He was the defensive line coach and video coordinator for the Lions the last two seasons and also served as the team’s assistant special teams coordinator in 2018.
Prior to his time at Albright College, Kuntz was a graduate assistant, concentrating on the defensive side of the ball and video coordination, at NCAA Division II Kutztown University for two seasons.
Kuntz earned a master’s degree in public administration from Kutztown University and a bachelor’s degree in history from Lehigh University. He earned two varsity letters as a defensive lineman for the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks (Division I subdivision) and was part of the team’s Patriot League Championships in 2010 and 2011. He was also part of the team’s Lambert Cup win in 2011 and was named to the Patriot League All-Academic Team in 2013.
R.Y.F.P.
