West Virginia

A Young, Fast Riser Could Be West Virginia’s Next Defensive Coordinator

Published

1 year ago

December 15, 2024

A Young, Fast Riser Could Be West Virginia’s Next Defensive Coordinator

The very first thing West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez has to do is put a staff together, ideally starting with finding a defensive coordinator. There is no set scheme Rodriguez is searching for, but he does have a few guys in mind.

“It depends on the coordinator I hire. I’ve got a couple that I’ve talked to, and they’re different,” Rodriguez said Thursday. “And everybody runs the same of everything now defensively whether it’s an odd-stack or an even front. Everybody has certain personnel packages they use for their own defense, but I’m going to pick the d coordinator first. I’ll have a really good one because I have enough resources to hire a really, really good one, and then from there, I’ll build out the defensive staff. There’s not one particular scheme that I want other than that I want to be really aggressive and force the issue, so to speak, on the other team.”

While Rodriguez doesn’t seem to mind what the defensive scheme is, his teams had great success with the 3-3-5 in his first stint in Morgantown. That doesn’t mean he’ll lean in that direction, but he has ties with a lot of guys who have experience running it. One of which is Zac Alley, who is currently the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Oklahoma.

His relationship with Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables goes back to 2011 when he served as a student assistant under him on the staff at Clemson. Alley remained at Clemson through the 2018 season before moving on to take his first position coach job as the inside linebackers coach at Boise State.

After two years in Boise, Terry Bowden named him the defensive coordinator at UL-Monroe in 2021, making him the youngest coordinator at the FBS level at 27. There, he met Rich Rodriguez, who was the offensive coordinator for the Warhawks. He was so impressed by Alley’s coaching and ability to scheme a defense that he brought him to Jacksonville State the following year to serve as his defensive coordinator.

Alley’s unit finished 33rd in scoring defense and 43rd in total defense. The Gamecocks were stout against the run, allowing just 2.8 yards per carry while causing a ton of havoc by creating 25 turnovers (16 interceptions), and a 13th-place finish nationally in sacks per game (2.9).

That success has carried over into his new post at Oklahoma in his first year on the job. The Sooners have seen drastic improvements in the four key defensive statistical categories, as shown below.

	2023 (Before Alley)	2024 (With Alley) Advertisement
Total Defense	389.7 (60th)	324.4 (20th)
Pass Defense	250.8 (100th) Advertisement	218.6 (63rd)
Rush Defense	138.9 (42nd)	105.7 (11th)
Scoring Defense Advertisement	23.5 (41st)	22.3 (31st)A

Alley’s approach fits the exact style Rodriguez wants his defense to play – fast, physical, and aggressive. But the one thing he adds to that is the wrinkles he throws in pre-snap. There’s a lot of movement, which causes the picture to change for the quarterback and often puts them in a tough spot. The defensive line will throw a lot of twists and stunts to make things even more difficult to handle.

He does a really good job of mixing things up visually, creating a bit of a guessing game as to where the pressure is coming from and who is dropping in coverage. He ran a lot of odd stack at Jax State but did mix in a healthy dose of four down fronts as well. He’s able to adapt to the personnel he has, which is probably the most impressive part about him for being such a young coordinator.

West Virginia

Man dies in southern W.Va. mining incident

Published

2 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

Man dies in southern W.Va. mining incident

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – A miner died Thursday after an incident at a coal mine in Wyoming County, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said.

The governor said it happened at the Lower War Eagle mine.

Morrisey released the following statement on Thursday evening:

“Denise and I were deeply saddened by the tragic loss of a coal miner today at the Lower War Eagle mine in Wyoming County. Our hearts go out to his family, loved ones, and coworkers during this sorrowful time.

“The West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety, and Training responded immediately and is conducting a full investigation.

“Each day, West Virginia miners perform difficult and demanding tasks. They do this to provide for their families, to build the communities, and to forge a better future for the next generation of West Virginians. It is that work, their strength, and their dedication that defines our state and our nation.

“I ask that all West Virginians lift this miner’s family, friends, and community up in your prayers and keep them in your thoughts through the difficult days ahead.”

The victim’s name has not been released.

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West Virginia

Biggest Surprises and Disappointments from West Virginia’s 2025 Portal Class

Published

14 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

The transfer portal officially opens here in a couple of weeks, so before the madness begins, we’re going to take a look back at last year’s West Virginia portal class, highlighting some of the biggest surprises and disappointments.

Biggest surprises

West Virginia University offensive lineman Donovan Haslam | Christopher Hall – West Virginia on SI

For this group, we’re keeping it all positive. These are players who rose above expectations and turned out to be pretty solid players.

OL Donovan Haslam (Austin Peay) – He’s far from a finished product, but he helped West Virginia get through some of its issues toward the end of the season when he replaced Walter Young Bear in the starting lineup. WVU will bring in competition for him, but he’s at least a capable option, just needs more development. That play he had dragging Diore Hubbard for a first down may have been a penalty, but it may have been the most determination we saw from a lineman all year.

BAN Devin Grant (Incarnate Word) – The stats may not show his impact, and sometimes that happens with a role player. His playmaking was very timely. Every time the Mountaineers desperately needed a sack, tackle for loss, or turnover, Grant delivered. He’s someone the staff would love to have for another year.

LB Ben Bogle (Southern Illinois) – Although he didn’t start, Bogle was the Mountaineers’ best run defender in the second level, and it really wasn’t close. As a matter of fact, he graded out as the best run stopper on the entire team. He’ll be in contention to start at the MIKE spot in 2026.

Biggest disappointments

West Virginia University Bandit Jimmori Robinson | Christopher Hall – West Virginia on SI

Before I get started here, I’m not including offensive linemen Walter Young Bear and Kimo Makane’ole, simply because they did not come to WVU with big expectations. Yes, they played poorly, but this category is for players who didn’t live up to expectations, in one way or another.

RB Tye Edwards (Northern Iowa) – Obviously, this isn’t a performance-based performance as Edwards injured his hip in the Backyard Brawl and was eventually lost for the season. Not having his physicality really hurt WVU’s offense and its ability to run the football. Had he been healthy, perhaps they could have won another game or two.

RB Jaylan Knighton (SMU) – Who? Yeah, Jaylan Knighton, the guy who never played a down for the Mountaineers. The SMU transfer was expected to be the No. 2 to Jahiem White, which would have formed a pretty strong duo, albeit behind a bad offensive line. He had some academic issues that led to his dismissal in fall camp.

BAN Jimmori Robinson (UTSA) – Without question, the biggest disappointment of all. Robinson was expected to be an elite pass rusher for WVU and an all-league caliber player. I wouldn’t throw all of the blame at his feet, though. Some of it can be attributed to the late start with the NCAA, taking forever with his eligibility, which ended up going to court. Some of it could be the fit in the defense as well. Regardless, Robinson fell well short of expectations, finishing with just 0.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss one year after recording 17 TFLs and 10.5 sacks at UTSA.

West Virginia

WV Lottery excited about Powerball drawing, sixth largest jackpot ever – WV MetroNews

Published

1 day ago

December 17, 2025

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WV Lottery excited about Powerball drawing, sixth largest jackpot ever – WV MetroNews

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Lottery is one of the millions around the nation that will have their eye on tonight’s Powerball drawing.

The Powerball jackpot sits at $1.25 billion, an estimated cash value of $572.1 million. That marks the sixth largest jackpot in the game’s history, and it is just the second time where the game has seen back-to-back jackpots over a billion dollars.

The drawing will be at 10:59 p.m.

“It’s exciting for the lottery and it’s exciting for our players,” said West Virginia Lottery acting director David Bradley. “As excited as we are for our players and for the state and the revenue it generates, we always encourage our players to play responsible.”

Bradley says even if that billion-dollar ticket get hit elsewhere, there will be other big tickets to look out for tonight.

“We’re excited too about the other levels that win. People are excited when they win $5, $20, and $100, and we’re grateful for our players and our retailers and the people that support the lottery,” he said.

Bradley announced Tuesday morning during a lottery commission meeting that two other large tickets had been hit in the state in recent weeks.

A $500,000 ticket was purchased at Martinsburg Wal-Mart, and a $50,000 ticket was sold at the GoMart in Sophia.

In 2025 alone, four different million-dollar tickets were sold in the state. The most recent came a month ago from rural Hardy County at the Misty Valley Grocery in Mathias. Bradley said today that the ticket has not yet been claimed.

Earlier in the year, million-dollar tickets were sold at the Par Mar #17 in Hurricane and the Mardi Gras Casino in Nitro. Neither ticket was claimed.

“When you buy a ticket, make sure you sign the back of it. We encourage all of our players to be sure to check those tickets because you never know. We tell them to look in their car seats, under the car seats, in their book bags, in their purses, gym bags, and jackets.”

WV Lottery financial successes:

The lottery is coming off a strong month of November, where revenues totaled $109,626,000, which is about $14 million ahead of projections.

Total traditional sales for the fiscal year are up six percent — an increase of $31 million from fiscal year 2025. As of the end of November, the Lottery is nearly 13 percent ahead of revenue projections for the year.

So far this year, the Lottery has transferred nearly $300 million to the state for proceeds helping veterans and seniors, the state’s tourism department, the state School Building Authority, and the Promise Scholarship.

“At the Lottery, we do an awful lot of good and we’re important to the state budget. To do good for those programs out there, that’s what makes us happy. I want to make sure people know that when they play, it goes for a good cause.”

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