Jacksonville State football defensive coordinator hot board: 5 candidates to replace Zac Alley
Jacksonville State football and coach Rich Rodriguez is on the hunt for a new defensive coordinator.
The opening comes after Zac Alley went to take the almost role at Oklahoma, moving to be the Sooners co-defensive coordinator. Alley was at Jax State for two seasons and made just over $213,000 a year, something that needs to be considered when listing candidates who could replace Alley.
Like many staff hires by Jax State in the Rich Rodriguez era, previous FBS experience and a previous tie to Rodriguez is something to look for in any potential candidate, but as new safeties coach Brandon Napoleon shows its not an absolute rule.
Here are five candidates that could replace Alley:
Terry Jefferson
Current position: Cornerbacks coach at Jax State
Reasoning: If the Gamecocks want to keep the job in-house, Jefferson's cornerbacks were among the stars of the defense, bringing in 16 interceptions
William Green
Current position: Defensive line coach at Jax State
Reasoning: If the Gamecocks want to keep the job in-house, Green would be the other option, at least from the defensive on-field coaching staff. The D-Line led the way with 39 sacks this season.
Xavier Brewer
Current position: Defensive analyst at Oklahoma
Reasoning: Brewer has ties to Rodriguez and Alley, coaching cornerbacks at ULM in 2021 with the two. He also was graduate assistant at Clemson from 2019-20.
Jeff Casteel
Current position: Defensive analyst at West Virginia
Reasoning: Rodriguez and Casteel go back a long ways, coaching against each other when Rodriguez was leading Glenville State before Rodriguez hired Casteel at WVU. Casteel and Rodriguez would once again connect at Arizona. Casteel recently moved to a defensive analyst/recruiting role for the Mountaineers.
Jeff Koonz
Current position: Linebackers/special teams coordinator at West Virginia
Reasoning: Another Rodriguez tie, coaching at Ole Miss in 2019, Koonz would require Jax State to make a significant pay bump to convince Koonz to come.
Maxwell Donaldson covers high school sports and Jacksonville State athletics for the Gadsden Times. Find him on Twitter/X @_Max_Donaldson and contact him at MDonaldson@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Jacksonville State football defensive coordinator hot board
