After every season, there’s bound to be some coaching turnover. The Oklahoma Sooners have experienced it at each of their coordinator positions. [autotag]Seth Littrell[/autotag] takes over for [autotag]Jeff Lebby[/autotag] as offensive coordinator and OU announced on Saturday that [autotag]Zac Alley[/autotag] will take over for [autotag]Ted Roof[/autotag] as defensive coordinator.
Though the Sooners will have new coordinators on both sides of the ball heading into the SEC, they’ll keep the rest of their staff intact. In order to make sure they have as much continuity as possible, Brent Venables announced the promotion of [autotag]Jay Valai[/autotag] to assistant head coach for the defense.
“I’m incredibly excited about this defensive staff,” said Venables in an official release from the University of Oklahoma. “The leadership in the room with Coach Valai, Coach Alley, Coach (Todd) Bates, Coach (Miguel) Chavis and Coach (Brandon) Hall is exceptionally strong.”
Valai has served as Oklahoma’s co-defensive coordinator, defensive pass game coordinator, and cornerbacks and nickelbacks coach since joining Venables staff in January of 2022.
Valai has spent time coaching at the collegiate and NFL level and has shown his chops on the recruiting trail over the last two cycles, adding a number of blue-chip prospects from the high school ranks and impact transfers as well.
In promoting Valai, the Sooners assure their defensive staff remains intact as they welcome Alley and Oklahoma’s recruiting shouldn’t miss a beat.
The Sooners defense made significant improvements in 2023 to help Oklahoma earn their first 10-win season of the Brent Venables era. If they can take another step in 2024, it could have the Sooners contending for a spot in the College Football Playoff.
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