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Oklahoma receives an ‘A-‘ from Athlon Sports for the hiring of Brent Venables

Ben Dackiw
·2 min read
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It goes without saying that the Oklahoma Sooners hit a home run when athletic director Joe Castiglione brought in the big guns to replace Lincoln Riley. He brought Brent Venables home.

With help from Bob Stoops, Venables stabilized a program left in turmoil by its former head coach’s sudden departure, and the Oklahoma culture change happened almost overnight.

Sooner Nation was beside itself with joy when the hire was announced. Steve Lassan over at Athlon Sports gave the hire an “A-“ for the Sooners.

Brent Venables, Oklahoma
Previous Job: Defensive Coordinator, Clemson
Venables was regarded as the top defensive coordinator in college football at Clemson and was in no in rush to take a head-coaching job. However, the opportunity to return to Norman where he worked under Bob Stoops from 1999-2011 was simply too enticing. Under Venables’ watch, Clemson ranked inside of the top 10 nationally in scoring defense in six out of the last eight years. Also, the Tigers thrived at creating havoc around the line of scrimmage – an area the Sooners have to focus on improving with the pending move to the SEC. -Steven Lassen, Athlon Sports

Here’s a reminder of how Oklahoma fans felt about the hire of Brent Venables upon his return to Norman.

This offseason saw a ton of movement on the coaching front with several high profile coaches switching Power Five schools.

Venables’ ranking obviously isn’t a slap in the face, but Athlon Sports has Venables below Mario Cristobal, Billy Napier, Brian Kelly and Lincoln Riley. They put Venables on the same tier as Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman and New Mexico State’s Jerry Kill.

Mario Cristobal to Miami was a great hire as well. If he doesn’t bring back The U, no one will.

Brian Kelly’s weird videos on Twitter and fake accent have me very concerned about the future of the LSU Tigers.

Lincoln Riley, well, we’ve said more than enough about Lincoln Riley to USC.

Marcus Freeman made me like Notre Dame simply with this video:

From what I’ve heard around campus, Venables’ takeover of the program has gone off without a hitch. He’s instilling a new toughness into the team and the players would go to war for him.

Big things are on the way in Norman, Oklahoma, but we already knew that.

List

Players react to Brent Venables being named the next head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners

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