MORGANTOWN — The West Virginia University football team has its first million-dollar coordinator.
The university showed its confidence in new defensive coordinator Zac Alley in signing him to a four-year deal that will pay him $1.5 million annually. The memorandum of understanding for the contract was obtained from WVU through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Alley, who came to WVU after a season as a co-defensive coordinator at Oklahoma, will serve under new WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez. The two worked together in 2022-23 at Jacksonville State, where Alley was defensive coordinator and Rodriguez was head coach of the Gamecocks.
For comparison, former WVU defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley made $775,000 in 2024 and would have made $800,000 in 2025 if he had not been fired in the middle of last season.
WVU also will pay Alley’s $315,000 buyout from Oklahoma and set a number of incentives from $10,000 for a Big 12 Championship game appearance to $50,000 for WVU winning the national championship.
Alley was slated to make an average of $900,000 annually at Oklahoma.
According to the MOU, if Alley leaves before the deal expires, he’s required to pay 25% of the remainder of the contract within 90 days of leaving. If WVU fires him without cause, it will pay 100% of the remainder of the deal in biweekly installments.
Alley’s contract is an example of the size of Rodriguez’s salary pool for assistant coaches and staff in his initial contract. Rodriguez has $5 million to work with in hiring assistant coaches and another $2.5 million to hire support staff.
Also announced Wednesday was the hiring of Rhett Rodriguez, son of Rich Rodriguez, as WVU quarterbacks coach and Rod West as cornerbacks coach.
The younger Rodriguez was a quarterback at Arizona and Louisiana-Monroe and was a team captain at ULM and served as an offensive analyst last year for his dad at Jacksonville State.
“I am proud of Rhett for the path that he has taken. He was a true student-athlete at Arizona and Louisiana-Monroe, and that will serve him well as he continues his coaching career at West Virginia,” Rich Rodriguez said in a university release. “He can relate to our student-athletes, and he has a great understanding of what we want and need to accomplish on offense. It will be special to coach with Rhett at my alma mater.”
West spent the last four years as cornerbacks coach at Appalachian State, adding the title of defensive passing game coordinator in 2022. While at ASU, he helped the Mountaineers win a pair of Sun Belt East titles and secure a win over No. 6 Texas A&M in 2022. West was named to the 2021 American Football Coaches Association 35 Under 35 list.
— Story by Derek Redd
