Cornerbacks Coach Jay Valai Moving On, Says Goodbye to Crimson Tide Fans
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One season after joining Alabama’s coaching staff Jay Valai is on his way to another program. Tuesday, the cornerbacks coach announced his departure from the Crimson Tide over social media. Moments later, it was announced that he had been hired as the co-defensive coordinator/pass defense coach at Oklahoma, where he will work under first-year head coach Brent Venables.
Valai is the first departure from the 2021 Crimson Tide coaching staff. Even during a slow year, Nick Saban usually has to hire at least a couple of replacements.
During a busy year, it can be at least half of the coaches.
During Valai’s lone year at Alabama, he oversaw a cornerbacks room that combined for seven of the Tide’s 15 interceptions and 20 of its 45 pass deflections. He helped develop redshirt junior Jalyn Armour-Davis into a second-team All-SEC selection while guiding Kool-Aid McKinstry to Freshman All-SEC honors. Alabama ranked No. 50 nationally in pass defense, allowing 218.1 yards per game through the air.
“Working with Coach Jay Valai has been a great thing for me and, I think, every DB on the team,” Armour-Davis said in November. “He brings a lot of energy. He’s a guy that really cares, not just about football but for us as people. He wants to see everyone do great, and he’s gonna make sure that he gets it out of us, which I think that’s probably the best trait from him that he really cares about his players. And he does everything that he can to figure out that player and figure out how he can make him the best player that he can be, and we all appreciate him very much for that.”
Valai hasn’t been one to stay in one place too long throughout his career. His most recent move marks the fourth job he has accepted since Jan. 20 of last year and the seventh role he has accepted since the end of the 2017 season.
Valai accepted positions at both Houston and with the Philadelphia Eagles last offseason before joining Alabama in February. Before that, he served as the cornerbacks coach at the University of Texas during the 2020 season.
Valai was the cornerbacks coach at Rutgers in 2019 after serving as a defensive quality control and assistant defensive backs coach for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2018. He spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons at Georgia as a defensive quality control coach.
During his playing career, Valai was a four-year letter winner at Wisconsin, captaining the Badgers 2010 Rose Bowl team. The former defensive back totaled 153 tackles, four forced fumbles and a pair of interceptions in 48 career games while earning second-team All-Big Ten honors in 2008 and 2009. He appeared in four bowl games with the Badgers, winning the 2010 Big Ten Championship and advancing to the Rose Bowl that same season.
Before getting into coaching, Valai opened a sports performance training facility where he worked with NBA, NFL and high school athletes from 2011-16.
