Zac Alley Explains Bold Decision to Leave Oklahoma for WVU, What Convinced Him

Zac Alley had a coveted job as the defensive coordinator at a blue blood in the best conference in America, helping call the shots for Oklahoma alongside head coach Brent Venables.

Sure, "BV" may have been the guy who oversaw the whole operation, but he allowed Alley to be the Sooners' defensive play-caller during their lone season together on the plains in 2024.

When Rich Rodriguez pried Alley away from Oklahoma to come be his defensive coordinator at West Virginia, it sent shockwaves throughout all of college football. Alley may not be a big-time, marquee name that every college football fan knows just yet, but those who follow the sport closely or cover it saw this as a surprising move.

Why on Earth would someone leave Oklahoma for West Virginia when it's not a promotion? Alley explained his thought process during an interview on Next Up with Adam Breneman.

“We had a lot of success together at Jacksonville State, and I have a lot of respect for how he treats his coaches and how he treats me. He’s been great to me everywhere I’ve been. He really sold me on what West Virginia could be and where we could go here. The tradition and the history this program has is really impressive, and he was a part of most of those years where they were really successful. So, I just wanted an opportunity to be a part of the redemption story of coming back and building the program back to where it needed to be. Everybody wants to win year one now, that’s a thing. That’s hard. You can say whatever you want. It’s hard. I look forward to watching our guys develop and seeing how our fans and the people in this community respond as we get a chance to do that redemption arc for the school.”

Reasons for the jump to West Virginia

West Virginia University Defensive Coordinator Zac Alley | Christopher Hall – West Virginia on SI

The Sooners have more resources, giving them the ability to compete for a national championship every year, but it's more than that. Although Alley would never admit it, going to WVU gives him complete autonomy of the defense and job security.

As previously mentioned, Alley called the plays for Oklahoma, but Venables still had his hands all over that defense. It's his baby. It's how he's made it to where he is. Branching off gives him the freedom to have full control of every decision on the defensive side of the ball, from assistant coach hires, how things are structured, constructing the playbook, calling the plays, and so on.

Heading into the 2025 season, there was a lot of doubt surrounding Brent Venables and his future at Oklahoma. If the Sooners turned in another subpar season, it would have put him squarely on the hot seat for 2026, if not off of it, because they may have decided to move on from him. Reuniting with Rich Rod at WVU, he knew he would have time to build while also getting a nice payday ($1.5M annually).

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