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OU officially hires Zac Alley as co-defensive coordinator

headshotby:George Stoia•01/13/24•

GeorgeStoia

Zac Alley
Photo by Brandon Phillips courtesy of Jacksonville State.

OU has officially hired Zac Alley as its next co-defensive coordinator, the school announced Saturday.

The Sooners have been in search for a new defensive coordinator since the program decided to part ways with Ted Roof on Jan. 4. Alley, who served the past two seasons as the DC at Jacksonville State, is officially his replacement, as SoonerScoop.com reported last week. Alley will also coach linebackers. The program also announced that defensive backs coach Jay Valai has a new title, now as the “assistant head coach for defense.”

Alley, 30, has close ties to OU coach Brent Venables. He was a student assistant at Clemson from 2011-2014 and a graduate assistant from 2015-2018. Alley worked closely with Venables during this time. He was then hired in 2019 at Boise State as the inside linebackers coach. In 2020, he was the outside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator for the Broncos. The net year, he was hired at Louisiana Monroe as their defensive coordinator, making him the youngest coordinator in the FBS at 27 years old. He was then hired at Jacksonville State by Rich Rodriguez.

“I’m incredibly excited to welcome Zac to our coaching family here at Oklahoma,” Venables said. “He’s going to fit in really well from a cultural, chemistry and philosophy standpoint. Obviously, there’s a familiarity and comfort based on our background together at Clemson. He’s exceptionally hard-working and tough, and has earned his way up the professional ladder by going out on his own and establishing himself. He’s incredibly bright, innovative and passionate.

“Our players are going to love him. He’s got great humility and confidence, and is always finding ways to get better. He’s coached linebackers and the defensive line, he’s been exposed to the secondary and he was an award-winning special teams coordinator at Boise State. Wherever he’s been he’s molded his units into better versions, and he’ll do the same here. He really fits in well with our staff.”

While Alley comes to Norman with little experience, he is regarded as one of the brightest young minds in football. He helped turn around a Jacksonville State defense in his second year, with the Gamecocks finishing eighth in the country in stop rate — OU finished 33rd. He’s also someone Venables trusts to help run his defense, as he takes a step back as the head coach.

“This a tremendous opportunity,” Alley said. “Oklahoma is an elite and historic program that has consistently competed for championships. The opportunity to come to OU and work for someone I really respect and who thinks like I do on defense and who wants to be aggressive and get after people on that side of the ball is exciting.

“Everything I do is based on what Coach Venables did at Clemson. That’s been the foundation for how I’ve built defenses. I always respected how he handled himself as a coach and as a man, and I wanted to emulate that as best I could. From the moment I met him, I always wanted to be like him, have a career like his, lead the best defense in the country like him. He’s obviously had a huge influence on me and I’m excited to be back with him.”

Read more about Alley’s journey to OU here.

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