A first reported by ESPN's Pete Thamel, Oklahoma co-defensive coordinator Zac Alley is departing Norman after just one year on the job.

Alley, 31, joined the Oklahoma staff in January as co-DC and linebackers coach under his mentor, Brent Venables. Now, after just one season on the job, he's leaving for West Virginia, where he'll reunite with new WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez. Before his lone year at OU, Alley served as defensive coordinator under Rodriguez at Jacksonville State from 2022-23.

Under Alley's direction, the Sooners' defense enjoyed its strongest season in years. Alley served as the playcaller for a unit that ranked in the national top 20 in yards allowed, and surrendered just 21.5 points per game to the opposition. Junior defensive end R Mason Thomas enjoyed a breakout campaign with nine sacks, and senior linebacker Danny Stutsman morphed into an All-SEC performer and Butkus Award finalist.

Since Rodriguez was hired in mid-December, West Virginia had made a hard push to bring in Alley as their new defensive coordinator. However, Oklahoma had been proactive in making an effort to retain him, and sources tell OUInsider that Alley had verbally agreed to a new deal that included a substantial pay bump. However, nothing had been finalized in writing as of yet, which left the door open for the Mountaineers to make a push for Alley's services.

After the Sooners' Armed Forces Bowl loss to Navy on Friday, Alley was asked on the OU radio network about reports that had connected him to the DC vacancy at West Virginia.

"Every year, there's going to be something that comes up with jobs and whatnot, man, but I'm just excited about our team," Alley answered. "I think coming back next season, we're going to have a great opportunity to be successful, be a top defense in the country, and hopefully we got some young guys who can come along to help us do that."

The response certainly didn't resemble a denial, and scarcely 24 hours later, Alley is now in line to be the next DC in Morgantown. As the Sooners look to fill his shoes, it's within the realm of possibility that they don't have to make an external hire. James Skalski, a former Clemson linebacker and a protege of Brent Venables, is on staff as a graduate assistant and will warrant consideration for promotion to the on-field staff as linebackers coach. Safeties coach Brandon Hall, defensive tackles coach Todd Bates and cornerbacks coach Jay Valai all have backgrounds as DC's or co-DC's, and will be in the mix to succeed Alley as the defensive playcaller.

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