The West Virginia Mountaineers have hired away Oklahoma Sooners defensive coordinator Zac Alley for the same position in Morgantown. This is a stunning reversal of what college football has become, which is the SEC and Big Ten poaching coordinators from the Big 12 for lateral moves.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel was the first to report the news on Saturday afternoon, one day after the Oklahoma Sooners lost the Armed Forces Bowl 21-20 against Navy.
Alley addressed the rumors after the loss, and said, “Every year, there’s going to be something that comes up with jobs and whatnot, man, but I’m just excited about our team. I think coming back next season, we’re going to have a great opportunity to be successful, be a top defense in the country, and hopefully we got some young guys who can come along to help us do that.”
Well, if OU is going to have a top defense in 2025, it will have to be without Alley. Alley has reportedly agreed to a three-year deal to join the Mountaineers coaching staff.
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Zac Alley’s Coaching History
Zac Alley has deep ties to both head coaches. He worked on staff with Rich Rodriguez as his defensive coordinator in 2022 and 2023 at Jacksonville State before he rejoined Brent Venables in Norman for the 2024 campaign.
Alley got his start in coaching working with Venables, as he was a student assistant at Clemson from 2011-2014, and he was promoted to a graduate assistant with the Tigers from 2015-2018.
His first job as a position coach came at Boise State, where he served as the inside linebackers coach in 2019. In 2020, he was elevated to outside linebackers coach and co-special teams coordinator for Boise State.
In 2021, Alley went to Louisiana-Monroe where he was both the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach before being hired by Rodriguez at Jacksonville State in 2022.
Alley has been calling defensive plays, along with being the linebackers coach. This past season under Alley, the Sooners finished the regular season 11th in rushing defense, 55th in passing defense, 21st in total defense and 34th in scoring defense.
