Zac Alley Expresses Confidence in Mountaineers, Proclaims WVU ‘Sleeping Giant’

If there’s anyone who believes in the Mountaineers more than Rich Rodriguez, it’s his defensive coordinator Zac Alley. The young coach who left Oklahoma to serve Rodriguez at WVU recently reiterated his confidence with a bold statement.

Alley proclaimed West Virginia “a sleeping giant” during a recent appearance on the “3 Guys Before the Game” podcast. Alley’s bold claim comes in the midst of most national outlets predicting a rough year one for Rodriguez’s second tenure with WVU.

As a new low as far as execrations, the ESPN FPI (Football Power Index) ranked West Virginia barely within the top 70 teams in the country at No. 66.

But regardless of the low expectations, Rodriguez, who is being doubted nationally in some respects, knows preseason polls don’t matter as much in this era. And for that reason along with his trust in his staff, he remains confident.

“I think our staff has done a good job. I think we have one or two spots left open, but in this ever-changing world of college athletics, it’s been really crazy. But I’ve said this many times. The goal post will move, we gotta move with it,” Rodriguez told WV Sports Now’s Mike Asti directly about having to make tough decisions on who to cut and who to bring in.

“We gotta do everything we can to try to improve our roster every day, not every month but every day.”

Despite a complete overhaul of the roster and having to implement a new culture, Rodriguez believes West Virginia can compete for a national championship. In fact, Rodriguez admitted he wouldn’t have accepted the job without being sold on WVU’s plan to succeed at the highest level.

“I think if the rev share comes in and the so-called salary cap comes in, it’ll give some sense of fairness across the board.”

However, no matter what happens, Rodriguez, and now Alley, just simply believe it can happen, even if some think he’s crazy.

“I believe in our state. I believe in our university. I believe in our coaches. And I believe in our program. You look at Arizona State that went from worst to first in the Big 12. We could do the same thing,” said Rodriguez.

Alley, 30, is viewed as an up-and-coming young defensive mind and has a strong connection to Rodriguez. Alley was recently served as the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Oklahoma during the 2024 season, an opportunity he owes to his time working under Rodriguez at Jacksonville State.

WVSN photo by Kelsie LeRose

Prior to joining the Sooners in 2024, Alley spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons with Rodriguez and the Gamecocks as defensive coordinator. He’s also worked with Rodriguez at Louisiana-Monroe. Before that, Alley spent time at Boise State and earned a couple of national championship rings as a graduate assistant with Clemson.

While Rodriguez brought West Virginia conference titles and major bowl wins during his first tenure, the Mountaineers are coming off the program’s worst six-year stretch since before Don Nehlen arrived in 1980.

West Virginia failed to even achieve one single ranking in the Associated Press under Neal Brown – they did finish the 2023 season ranked No. 25 in the Coaches Poll.

For a related story, WVU defensive coordinator Zac Alley is facing pressure as 2025 is a pivotal year in his personal career.