Alley Open to Personnel Changes, Believes in His Staff: 'It's Not Like They Forgot How to Coach'

Something has to change defensively for West Virginia. We all know that, including defensive coordinator Zac Alley.

No, Alley is not on his way out, nor are any members of his staff. The best way to solve some of the problems that exist on that side of the ball is by giving opportunities to guys who haven't played a bunch to see what they have, and possibly shuffle the deck a little bit with where guys are playing.

"I told everybody it's an open job," Alley said. "I mean, ain't nobody solidified as a starter. We aren't good enough to say you got 11 starters out there, so we're trying to put the most athletic guys we can out there to give us an opportunity and positions that we feel like can be successful."

Most of the changes I believe we will see will come in the back end. There are a handful of guys who can play both corner and safety, so there could be some flip-flopping for some, but also, they have three safety positions, and some of those guys could be moved around to try to get the best 11 on the field.

"You have to assess what you do well and what you do poorly and then try and fix those things, whether that's a coaching point, whether that's something not getting across, whether that looks like how we meet, how we do practice, who we play where. We've had a lot of collaborative discussions about that in the last week or two. I believe in my guys. You go through a bad stretch, and suddenly, like, nobody knows how to coach. I get how that sounds. Like, 'Oh, nobody knows how to coach anybody,' and 'We're terrible.' We haven't played well; I agree with that. Nobody says we have. I don't think we have. Some of my coaches have been coaching for 35 years and have multiple first-round draft picks, so it's not like they forgot how to coach guys. There's just a lot of things that go into winning and losing. We assess everything we do, but I have a lot of confidence in my staff, and I believe in who they are, and I believe in the track record they had shown prior to the last couple games. They're my guys, and we've been here."

Alley does have a point. His staff wouldn't have accomplished the things they have or be where they are currently if they didn't know what they were doing. But sometimes, as head coach Rich Rodriguez pointed out a week ago, it could be as simple as being more direct with the players when it comes to where to line up or what exactly you want them to take away.

When you're playing that poorly on that side of the ball, everything needs to be better. Coaching, game planning, execution, communication- you name it. It's not just coaching. It's not just the players not executing. And it's not just a lack of talent. It's a combination of everything.

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