OU Football Announces Zac Alley As Co-Defensive Coordinator, Linebackers Coach

OU Football announced Zac Alley as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach on Saturday.

Head Coach Brent Venables hired Alley from Jacksonville State University where he spent the past two seasons as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.

Alley, 30, worked under Venables as a graduate assistant at Clemson from 2015-2018.

"I'm incredibly excited to welcome Zac to our coaching family here at Oklahoma," said Venables. "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."

OU Football said Alley was the youngest defensive coordinator in the NCAA FBS at 27 years old when he took over at ULM before his stint at Jacksonville State.

"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," said Venables.

Last year, Alley's defense led the nation with 15 fumble recoveries and it allowed 17 or fewer points on six occasions.

"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," said Alley.

In addition to the defensive coordinator announcement, Venables announced Saturday that assistant coach Jay Valai has a new title. He's now the assistant head coach for defense/co-defensive coordinator/pass defense/cornerbacks and nicklebacks.

"I'm incredibly excited about this defensive staff," said Venables. "The leadership in the room with Coach Valai, Coach Alley, Coach (Todd) Bates, Coach (Miguel) Chavis and Coach (Brandon) Hall is exceptionally strong."