Being one of the best at something in college football means others will also want a piece of that success.
Surprisingly it's taken this long after the Oklahoma Sooners' defense was so dominant in 2025, another blue-blood program is trying to swipe one of Brent Venables' top assistants. A to Z Sports reported on Wednesday that OU cornerbacks coach Jay Valai, who also has titles of assistant head coach for defense and co-defensive coordinator, has emerged as a candidate for Notre Dame, which just lost its secondary coach to the Baltimore Ravens.
According to A to Z Sports, Valai might not be the Fighting Irish's top target to fill the role, but "there is expected to be some interest."
Jay Valai is a reported candidate for a Notre Dame opening
Valai has been at Oklahoma since 2022 as part of Venables' original OU staff. He added the title of assistant head coach for defense in 2024.
Just this past season, Valai had two young cornerbacks starting for him in sophomore Eli Bowen and freshman Courtland Guillory. Valai quickly developed Guillory into an SEC All-Freshman honoree, just a year after Bowen was an ESPN Freshman All-American. Both will return to anchor the Sooners' secondary in 2026. That immediate production also speaks to Valai's ability to scout and recruit.
Valai was an accomplished defensive back himself at Wisconsin in 2006-10. He was named Second-Team All-Big Ten twice and was a senior captain when the Badgers won the Big Ten championship in 2010 and played in the Rose Bowl.
After playing, Valai opened a sports performance training facility, where he trained professional and high school athletes for six years before getting into coaching. He started his coaching journey as a defensive quality control coach at Georgia in 2016-17. That 2017 Georgia team beat the Sooners in the College Football Playoff. He then had the same title for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2018.
Valai finally became a position coach in 2019 for Rutgers and was Texas' cornerbacks coach in 2020. In 2021, he was at Alabama before getting to Oklahoma as his longest stop so far. While at Rutgers and Texas, Valai coached alongside new Notre Dame defensive coordinator Chris Ash, which is the connection that has linked Valai to the Fighting Irish.
If Valai does leave for Notre Dame, losing just one defensive assistant would still be a massive offseason win for Venables after all his staff accomplished in 2025. And if the entire staff stays put, then that will be even more impressive than all the players Venables retained for 2026.