Sooners expected to name 30-year-old Zac Alley as new defensive coordinator

Alley, a former Venables staffer at Clemson, has spent the past two seasons overseeing the defense at Jacksonville State and will arrive in the wake of Ted Roof’s departure from the program.

By Eli Lederman

| Jan 4, 2024, 9:37pm CST

By Eli Lederman

Jan 4, 2024, 9:37pm CST

Brent Venables is expected to name 30-year-old Jacksonville State defensive coordinator Zac Alley as Oklahoma’s next defensive play-caller, according to multiple reports Thursday night.

News of Alley’s hiring emerged hours after the program announced the departure of former defensive coordinator Ted Roof, who oversaw the Sooners’ defense in each of the last two seasons.

Alley will arrive in Norman after spending each of the last two seasons running the defense at Jacksonville State where his unit finished eighth in run defense, 33rd in scoring defense and 43rd in total defense this past fall. Alley’s with Venables began at Clemson where the young coordinator began his coaching career as a student assistant from 2011-14 before serving as a graduate assistant from 2015-18. Alley landed his first assistant role as a linebackers coach at Boise State and later served as the Broncos’ co-special teams coordinator.

Sellout Crowd will have more on this developing story. In the meantime, Eli Lederman and Jenni Carlson break down the Sooners’ latest coordinator hire.

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Eli Lederman reports on the University of Oklahoma for Sellout Crowd. He began his professional career covering the University of Missouri with the Columbia Missourian and later worked at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette before two years writing on the Sooners and Cowboys at the Tulsa World. Born and raised in Mamaroneck, New York, Lederman grew up a rabid consumer of the New York sports pages and an avid fan of the New York Mets. He entered sportswriting at 14 years old and later graduated from the University of Missouri. Away from the keyboard, he can usually be found exploring the Oklahoma City food scene or watching/playing fútbol (read: soccer). He can be reached at [email protected].