Oklahoma officially hires Zac Alley as new co-defensive coordinator

Zac Alley, who spent the last two years as defensive coordinator at Jacksonville State, has been hired as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Oklahoma.

NORMAN — Brent Venables got his man, as Oklahoma made its new defensive coordinator hire official.

The Sooners announced the hiring of Zac Alley, who spent the last two years as defensive coordinator at Jacksonville State, as their new co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach on Saturday. The official announcement comes nine days after the program mutually parted ways with Ted Roof following two seasons in that role.

Just a few hours after Oklahoma announced Roof, who had one year remaining on a three-year contract, would not be returning for the 2024 season, 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz reported that Venables was expected to hire Alley, the 30-year-old Jacksonville State assistant who started his career as a student assistant-turned-graduate assistant at Clemson. During his eight years at Clemson, Alley spent seven working under the guidance of and learning from Venables, who was the Tigers’ defensive coordinator at the time.

“I’m incredibly excited to welcome Zac to our coaching family here at Oklahoma,” Venables said in a statement. “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.”

In announcing the addition of Alley, Oklahoma also announced that cornerbacks coach Jay Valai has added the title of “assistant head coach for defense” to his role, which also includes co-defensive coordinator/pass defense.

Alley spent four years as a student assistant at Clemson, the first of which was under then-defensive coordinator Kevin Steele in 2011. Venables was hired to replace Steele in 2012, and Alley spent the following three seasons as a student assistant before becoming a graduate assistant from 2015-18. During his time on the support staff at Clemson, Alley worked with linebackers and defensive tackles, and the program won two College Football Playoff national championships.

His first on-field opportunity came in 2019, when he was hired at Boise State, where he coached linebackers for two seasons — inside linebackers in 2019 and outside linebackers in 2020, when he also added the title of co-special teams coordinator. The following year, he was hired as defensive coordinator at Louisiana-Monroe under Terry Bowden, becoming the youngest defensive coordinator at the FBS level at 27 years old.

Alley spent one season with the Warhawks, helping the defense improve during a rebuilding year for the program in 2021. ULM improved statistically in 11 of 14 key categories that season, most notably against the run, going from the nation’s 125th-ranked run defense in 2020 to the No. 69 unit under Alley’s watch. In 2021, Alley was also named to 247Sports’ “30 Under 30” list, identifying him as one of the rising stars in the coaching industry.

Following his one season at ULM, Alley followed Rich Rodriguez — the Warhawks’ offensive coordinator in 2021 — to Jacksonville State as the Gamecocks’ defensive coordinator. Alley helped Jacksonville State transition from the FCS level to the FBS level, and the unit flourished under his guidance this season. Jacksonville State’s defense finished 33rdnationally in scoring, holding opponents to 21.2 points per game, and was eighth in the country in turnovers forced, with 25 takeaways. The Gamecocks were also 12th in yards allowed per play (4.82), 22nd in third-down defensive efficiency (32.68%) and 35th in red-zone touchdown efficiency (54.55%).

“This a tremendous opportunity,” said Alley, who was born in Spartanburg, S.C., and also grew up in Greenville, S.C., Atlanta and Charlotte. “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.”

Now Alley is reunited with his mentor, Venables, and will oversee an Oklahoma defense that returns key pieces at every position — notably linebacker Danny Stutsman, safety Billy Bowman Jr., cornerback Woodi Washington, defensive ends Ethan Downs and Trace Ford, and defensive tackles Da’Jon Terry and Jacob Lacey — as the Sooners head into their first season in the SEC.