Yahoo News Boise State assistant coach tests positive for COVID-19
Boise State assistant coach Zac Alley is recovering after testing positive for COVID-19 last week.
Alley, the Broncos’ outside linebackers coach and co-special teams coordinator, told reporters Tuesday that he went to the hospital after having issues with his breathing. It was soon discovered that the 26-year-old had the coronavirus.
Alley, who is now symptom-free, said his symptoms accelerated rapidly in a 24-hour span. He said every breath he took was “like taking a knife and sticking it through your ribs.”
“I had no symptoms, no anything, and in about a 24-hour period I went from 0 to 100,” Alley said. “I just had some sharp pains in my chest and all that. It got to a point that night where I was pretty short of breath and couldn’t breathe, and thankfully my girlfriend was like ‘we’re going to the ER’. When we got there they were saying thank God you came in.
“I didn’t think it was that big of a deal and then next thing I know I was like I probably need to go to the hospital. I don’t recommend it to anybody. It was definitely one of the worst pains of my life.”
Alley told reporters that he is not sure how he got the virus and is unsure if he may have been around Boise State coaches or players while he had it. BSU coaches have been working from home and have been quarantined for more than a week. He said he hasn’t left his house other than a grocery store trip.
Alley is entering his second season at Boise State. He spent 2019 as the team’s inside linebackers coach. Before landing in Boise, he briefly coached at Charlotte. He spent the previous eight years at Clemson, first as a student assistant and later as a graduate assistant. He also was a defensive coaching intern for the Carolina Panthers.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 1,170 positive COVID-19 tests in the state of Idaho have been reported to the CDC. Alley is the first college football coach to publicly disclose a positive test.
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