It seems Oklahoma players were also blindsided by Zac Alley's departure

Sooner Nation was shocked Saturday when ESPN's Pete Thamel broke the news of Zac Alley's departure, whether within or outside of the football program.

Thamel reported that Alley, Oklahoma's now former defensive coordinator, was finalizing a deal to leave OU for the same position at West Virginia. Rich Rodriguez, who Alley coached under at Jacksonville State before coming to Oklahoma, was just recently hired as the Mountaineers' head coach for a second time.

Rumors of the move surfaced earlier in the week, but Alley leaving a blue blood program for West Virginia didn't seem likely. Then Alley was asked about the rumors on Friday after the Sooners' 21-20 loss to Navy in the Armed Forces Bowl.

"Every year, there’s going to be something that comes up with jobs and whatnot, man, but I’m just excited about our team,” Alley said on OU's postgame radio broadcast. “I think coming back next season, we’re going to have a great opportunity to be successful, be a top defense in the country, and hopefully we got some young guys who can come along to help us do that.”

Obviously those of us outside the program were stunned by the news, but apparently those within the walls of the Barry Switzer Center were also blindsided. Several OU players from this past season posted on X after the news of Alley's departure was out.

There were also some (unofficial) reports saying that OU as an entire program was indeed blindsided by Alley leaving.

Regardless, Brent Venables now has to make another coordinator hire this offseason. He already brought in Ben Arbuckle from Washington State to be the Sooners' new offensive coordinator on Dec. 2.