Zachary Alley is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach who is currently the Assistant

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

and

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

. Alley won two

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research resp ...

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

Coaching career

Clemson

After graduating from

Charlotte Country Day School Charlotte Country Day School is a private school in Charlotte, North Carolina, with classes in grades Junior Kindergarten – 12. The school is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and Southern Association of I ...

, where he played on both the

defensive Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

and

offensive Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tendency to cause acts of violence by the ...

lines, Alley went to Clemson. Alley began his coaching career as a student assistant his freshman year in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and worked as an assistant his entire time as a student at Clemson. Once he graduated he became a

from

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, where he won two national championships under

Dabo Swinney William Christopher "Dabo" Swinney (; born November 20, 1969) is an American college football coach, currently serving as the head football coach at Clemson Tigers football, Clemson University. Swinney took over as head coach of the Clemson Tiger ...

Boise State

A month after he was signed to be the nickels coach for the

Charlotte 49ers The Charlotte 49ers are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina. The 49ers compete at the Nati ...

, Alley became the inside linebackers coach for the

Broncos A bucking horse is any breed of horse, male or female, with a propensity to buck. They have been, and still are, referred to by various names, including bronco, broncho, and roughstock. The harder they buck, the more desirable they are for ro ...

for the

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

season. For the

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

season he coached the outside linebackers while also being the co-special teams coordinator. During the season Alley contracted COVID-19.

ULM

Under the recommendation of

Brent Venables Thomas Brent Venables (born December 18, 1970) is an American college football coach who is the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma, a position he has held since the 2022 season. Venables served as the associate head coach, defensiv ...

, Alley was hired by

Terry Bowden Terry Wilson Bowden (; born February 24, 1956) is an American college football coach. He was most recently the head football coach at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, a position he held until the conclusion of the 2023 season. Bowden was th ...

to be the defensive coordinator for the Warhawks in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. Only being 27 years old he was the youngest FBS coordinator.

Jacksonville State

When

Rich Rodriguez Richard Alan Rodriguez (; born May 24, 1963), also known as Rich Rod, is an American college football coach and former player. He is the current head football coach at West Virginia Mountaineers football, West Virginia University, his second sti ...

was hired as the new head coach at Jacksonville State, after serving as the offensive coordinator at Louisiana-Monroe, he brought Alley with him as his defensive coordinator. In 2022, Jacksonville State had the #2 best overall defense in the FCS and top 25 in least points allowed per game, and concluded the season claiming the

ASUN The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. O ...

champion. The following season in the FBS, Jacksonville State finished 9-4, winning the school's first bowl game in school history. Jacksonville State's defense finished 15th in rushing defense, and 18th in least TDs allowed in the nation.

Oklahoma

In January 2024, the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the college athletics in the United States , athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to ...

announced Zac Alley as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. His first year he helped turn around Oklahoma's defense from the #99th total team defense in 2023 to a top 20-total defense in the country for 2024 season. Oklahoma's 2024 defense finished amongst the top in the country: 3rd in defensive touchdowns, 5th in fumbles recovered, 10th in team tackles for loss, 11th in first-down defense, 23rd in rushing defense, 25th in sacks and 30th in scoring defense.

West Virginia

On December 29, 2024, West Virginia announced Zac Alley as the new defensive coordinator and assistant head coach, reuniting him with head coach

References

External links

Boise State Broncos coach bioLouisiana-Monroe Warhawks coach bioJacksonville State Gamecocks coach bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alley, Zac Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Boise State Broncos football coaches Clemson Tigers football coaches Jacksonville State Gamecocks football coaches Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks football coaches Charlotte Country Day School alumni Clemson University alumni Sportspeople from Charlotte, North Carolina Coaches of American football from North Carolina