West Virginia is set to hire Zac Alley as their next defensive coordinator.
Alley has been in the coordinator position at three different schools. He was the youngest defensive coordinator in all of FBS in 2021 when he was the DC at the University of Louisiana-Monroe. He then went to be the DC at Jax State for two seasons before he took the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers position at Oklahoma this past season.
Alley's defenses have improved throughout his three seasons, but mostly at Jax State and Oklahoma.
In 2021 at ULM, his defense gave up over 33 points and 452 yards per game, both ranking second-to-last in the Sun Belt.
That was very different from how his unit performed in 2022 at Jax State. There, they averaged 22.9 points per game allowed, as well as just under 390 yards per game. They finished the year with 27 sacks, 22 forced fumbles, and eight interceptions.
Also, despite being at the FCS level that year, comparing Jax State's 2022 Pro Football Focus grades compared to other power five teams that year, they stack up quite well. They rank in the top 23 (out of 65 teams) in total defense grade, rush defense grade, pass rush grade, and coverage grade in 2022.
In 2023, Jax State played at the FBS level, competing in Conference-USA, but Alley's defense didn't flinch. They ranked first in points against, total yards against, rushing yards against, forced fumbles, third down conversion percentage, and fourth down conversion percentage among all C-USA teams.
That year, their defense graded out 21st among all power five teams in total defense, 16th in rush defense, and 19th in pass rush grades.
This year at Oklahoma, while their defense didn't statistically stack up at the top of the SEC, the Sooners' defense still produced at a high level. They held opponents to 21.58 points per game, and they averaged 318.3 yards per game against the Oklahoma defense. In addition, their 12 fumbles recovered this past season ranked fourth in the country.
Among the 69 power four teams, Oklahoma ranked 3rd in rush defense, 10th in pass rush, and 12th in total defense according to PFF grades.
On average, in his last three seasons as defensive coordinator, Alley's defenses are allowing 21.90 points per game, 353.60 yards per game, they have 33.7 sacks per season, 16.3 forced fumbles per season, and 11 interceptions per season.
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