Oklahoma Insider John Hoover Gives the Scoop on What WVU is Getting in Zac Alley

A closer look at West Virginia's new defensive coordinator.

BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

West Virginia pulled off a big-time hire over the weekend, officially landing Zac Alley as the team's new defensive coordinator.

The move backs up the promise from some of WVU's biggest donors, showing that they are more than committed to helping assist Rich Rodriguez in returning the football program to national relevance, essentially out-bidding an SEC school for its sitting defensive play-caller.

While the move may not have made national headlines, those in Morgantown and Norman know how massive of a get this is for the Mountaineers. To help provide a little insight into Alley, I reached out to John Hoover, the publisher of Oklahoma Sooners On SI, to get his analysis of the brilliant young defensive mind.

Hoover's thoughts:

West Virginia fans are going to like a lot about their new defensive coordinator, Zac Alley. There’s a lot to like. Alley was Brent Venables' understudy at Clemson and has been called a Venables “clone” in his nearly 12 months in Norman. He even acknowledged, “I look like him. I talk like him.” They have many of the same mannerisms and personality traits. In many respects, Alley was OU’s “good cop” to Venables’ “bad cop” in the OU defensive meeting room.

At 31 years old, Alley relates well to today’s players. When OU opened the season with a 51-3 win over Temple, players lifted Alley over their heads in a raucous locker room celebration as Venables tossed him a game ball. He’s whip-smart, very organized, and communicates extremely well with players, and he is relaxed, engaging, and witty in interview sessions with the media.

On the field, Alley is apparently looking for a little more defensive play-calling autonomy — something he was never going to truly have under Venables. Alley was brought to Norman to run Venables’ defense; now he can run his own in Morgantown, and that’s presumably the 3-3-5 setup that Rich Rodriguez knows and trusts (Alley also favored that structure when he was DC at Jacksonville State under RichRod). Oklahoma’s defense was certainly better in 2024 (from 46th to 30th in the nation in points allowed, from 77th to 19th in total yards allowed, from 109th to 44th in passing yards allowed) with Alley on the sidelines.

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