MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Zac Alley’s move from Oklahoma to West Virginia in the offseason was met with consternation by many fans of the Sooners. Although OU went 6-7 last season, Oklahoma finished 19th in the nation in total defense under Alley’s leadership.
Alley was the first coach to join Rich Rodriguez’s staff at WVU. At 30 years of age, Alley enhanced his reputation last fall in a season where the Sooners posted impressive defensive numbers despite a subpar season for the program.
“The standard of performance we set for our players is incredibly high. [Oklahoma] Coach [Brett] Venables is amazing at that. That’s what he did at Clemson and at Oklahoma too. It is something I have always wanted to say about myself. It is something I have aspired to personally as well,” Alley said.
“Nobody coaches harder. Nobody does more. Nobody strains and stresses our guys more to be great than we do. Obviously, having people around me that have been a part of those types of defenses, those types of players and that mentality, only helps to have a congruent and consistent message.”
Ask Alley to describe exactly what his defense will look like or what scheme will be employed, and a number of answers could follow that question.
“We’re extremely multiple, diverse and aggressive. I think in the last couple years, we have been top five in the country in blitz percentage overall. I have heard for a long time that pressure breaks pipes. We play a four-down front, a three-down front. We’ll do a little bit of shifting in and out of both of those in the same series with the same personnel groups. I always laugh because when I say ‘multiple’, I really mean that. It will look different every week and we kind of hang our hat on being really hard to prepare for.
“Week in and week out, it changes. If you watch us, you’ll see that. There’s certain weeks we’ll play with true three safeties. Sometimes we play with three safeties and a nickel. Sometimes it is a nickel and two safeties. Sometimes we’ll play with two safeties and three linebackers. It just depends on the challenge of the week. I have always believed that it is harder on offense because they don’t know what they are going to have to prepare for that week.”
After coaching stints at Clemson, Boise State, Louisiana-Monroe, Jacksonville State and Oklahoma, Alley has had two months to settle into the city of Morgantown.
“I have loved the city so far. It has been great. I found a house that is nice and not too far from here, five minutes or so. It is convenient and a good place to be. The people have been amazing ever since we got here. Everyone I have met and been around, they have been tremendous.”
Alley was the nation’s youngest coordinator at the FBS level in the 2021 season at ULM. He later followed Rodriguez to Jacksonville State a year later.
“Obviously, I have history with Coach [Rich] Rodriguez between [Louisiana]-Monroe when I was the defensive coordinator and he was the offensive coordinator. When he took me to Jacksonville State afterwards and we had some success there for two years, I love him. I love him to death. I love working for him. I appreciate how he treats us and treats our players. We are demanding, but we love our guys even harder.
“We say all the time that you will work harder here than anywhere else in the country. But you will be treated better here than anywhere else in the country.”
While defensive linemen and defensive backs will of course be held to high standards, Alley is placing greater demands on his position group, the linebackers.
“I challenge our backers more than anybody else. I tell them up front when I recruit them that the standard for you will be higher than everyone else in the program because of who you are. I have never been on a great team that didn’t have great play at linebacker, both as a player on the field and as a leader in the locker room.
“There’s a high demand on those guys to perform that way all the time. I want those players, series in and series out to be able to control what is going on on the field. If the D-lineman is not lined up right, you fix him. If the safety didn’t have the check, you get him the check. That’s your job. You are the commander of the defense. I always want them thinking in ways, ‘How do I not only play well myself, but how do I improve the play of the guys around me? How do a multiply their ability to be successful as well?'”
Spring practice begins on Tuesday for the Mountaineers and Alley’s list of immediate goals is lengthy throughout the fifteen practices.
“Learning the defense is probably number one. From my side, learning my players, who is good at what and what do they do well? How do we put them in positions to win and to be successful the most. And understanding how we are going to compete as a team. We are definitely not there yet. They’ve got to figure out our standards and how we do things. I’ve got to figure out who can meet those standards and perform at that level all the time. The spring will be a challenge. It will be hard. And it should be because we want to find the guys that are committed to that process and want to be a part of something special.”
With half of the roster under his tutelage, Alley says he has many tools in the toolbox to teach players by whatever means are necessary.
“A great teacher has to know that their students don’t learn all the same way. Some guys need walk-throughs. Some guys can watch it one time and do it. Some guys can remember something you told them five years ago and the other guy won’t remember what you said thirty seconds ago.
“A little bit of everything — board work, I have what I call ‘football school’. They do homework and stuff on their own too when I am not around. Most of them, they enjoy that. They want to learn the game.”