The West Virginia Mountaineers have spent much of the season looking like one of the worst defenses in college football. And after several games, WVU football fans asked the question several times – will this be the opponent that brings an end to Zac Alley's stint as West Virginia's defensive coordinator.
But WVU's defense held up much better than usual in Saturday's win against TCU, and now that question fans have been asking as been flipped. After TCU's offense scored just 20 points and turned the ball over three times against the Mountaineers, whom are statistically among the worst defenses nationally, TCU co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach A.J. Ricker has been fired.
TCU has fired co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach A.J. Ricker, a source tells @On3. https://t.co/HtzlbYNFpz pic.twitter.com/mD00EmdrUB
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos) October 25, 2026
Ricker was not some new face on the staff this season, either. He has been with TCU since 2021, and was in his sixth season. He joined the program one year before current head coach Sonny Dykes – though he made the move from SMU, where Dykes was the head coach at the time, so he was retained when Dykes was hired. He helped TCU make a national championship appearance in the 2022 season.
Zac Alley flips the script with WVU football's win over TCU
Of course, TCU was already averaging just 12 points per game against Power 4 competition this season, so it's not like this came out of the blue. Horned Frogs fans were already discontent with their team's offense, and going in many pundits expected them to be the worst offense West Virginia faced in Big 12 play. Ricker was not doing a bang-up job.
But West Virginia's defense put together a performance that left another team feeling like they had no other choice but to hand their offensive coordinator a pink slip. And he's an offensive coordinator who has national championship experience and had been with the current coach seven of the last eight years. That's a good feeling, and yet another accomplishment to hang their hat on entering the bye week.
Of course, it also does mean that West Virginia is the type of defensive unit that can get a coach fired even after putting up 482 yards and 5.9 yards per play against it, just because they forced a few turnovers and got a few stops. That's not such a good feeling, and goes to show that there is still a long way to go before the Mountaineers are where they want to be on that side of the ball.
Add us as a preferred source on Google