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.

OTHER HIRES: West Virginia now has its top special teams coaches with the announcement Tuesday of two hires for that room.

WVU has hired Pat Kirkland as special teams coordinator and Chris Haering as assistant special teams coordinator.

This will mark the third time that Kirkland has worked with Rodriguez, having served on his staff at WVU in 2006 and 2007 and at Jacksonville State from 2022-2024.

Kirkland was the special teams’ coordinator and bandits coach under Rodriguez at Jacksonville State for three years.

In 2024, the Gamecocks special teams were ranked No. 2 in Conference USA in kickoff return and kick return defense, net punting, punt returns and punt return defense. The kick return defense was ranked No. 22 nationally and his punter, Jack Dawson, was ranked No. 17 nationally. In his first stint at WVU, he coached fullbacks, tight ends and secondary.

He also spent 10 seasons as the head coach at the University of Charleston, amassing a 70-41 record there, coaching 42 all-conference first-team players, including former defensive lineman John Cominsky, a fourth-round draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons now playing with the Detroit Lions.

Haering, a former WVU linebacker, is entering his second season as WVU’s assistant special teams coach. In 2024, the WVU kickoff return defense was ranked No. 12 in Power Four, the kickoff return unit was ranked No. 17 among Power Four, the Mountaineers were ranked No. 44 nationally in net punting and the punt return defense was ranked No. 4 in the Big 12. Kicker Michael Hayes II was ranked No. 6 among Power Four in field goal percentage.

Haering came to WVU from Wisconsin, where he coached the special teams for seven seasons for Paul Chryst before transitioning to tight ends coach in 2022.