BREAKING: West Virginia Set to Hire Zac Alley as Defensive Coordinator

West Virginia's search for a defensive coordinator has come to an end. Rich Rodriguez is set to bring on Zac Alley as the Mountaineers' new leader on the defensive side of the ball, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN.

Alley, 30, is the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Oklahoma. Before reuniting with Brent Venables in Norman, Alley spent two years as the coordinator on Rodriguez's staff at Jacksonville State. The two also spent the 2021 season together on Terry Bowden's staff at UL Monroe where he was the youngest coordinator (27) at the FBS level.

In his two years at Jax State, Alley's unit finished 33rd in scoring defense and 43rd in total defense. The Gamecocks were stout against the run, allowing just 2.8 yards per carry while causing a ton of havoc by creating 25 turnovers (16 interceptions) and a 13th-place finish nationally in sacks per game (2.9).

That success has carried over into his new post at Oklahoma in his first year on the job. The Sooners have seen drastic improvements in the four key defensive statistical categories, as shown below.

Oklahoma's Defense	2023 (Before Alley)	2024 (With Alley)
Total Defense	389.7 (60th)	324.4 (20th)
Pass Defense	250.8 (100th)	218.6 (63rd)
Rush Defense	138.9 (42nd)	105.7 (11th)
Scoring Defense	23.5 (41st)	22.3 (31st)

Alley ran a lot of odd stack at Jacksonville State but mixed in a good dose of four-man configurations to keep the offense off-balance. During his one year at Oklahoma, he adapted to Venables' 4-2-5 scheme but did implement some three-man looks, which helped the Sooners' defense considerably.

He's a perfect fit for what Rodriguez wants in his defensive play-caller - someone who is aggressive and prioritizes creating takeaways. On third downs, he tends to put a lot of faith in his secondary and bring a lot of pressure to overwhelm the offensive line and force the quarterback to rush his progressions.

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