Brent Venables Celebrates His Two Years Annivesary As Being The Head Coach Of Oklahoma Football Team With An Exciting Incoming Top Player News Who Is On His Way To….

It has been two years since Brent Venables was appointed as the 23rd head coach in Oklahoma football history.

On December 5, 2021, the then-50-year-old Venables made his official return to Norman and was named head coach.

Lincoln Riley, who abruptly left the program following the 2021 season to accept the head position at USC, was replaced by Venables. While there was a lot of boo-bird talk in Year 2 as Oklahoma finished with a 10-2 record (7-2 in the conference) heading into the 2023 postseason, both the media and fans were highly disappointed with the Sooners’ 5-7 overall record and just 3-6 in the Big 12 during Venables’ first season as head coach.

Venables is part of the Bob Stoops coaching tree. He followed Stoops to Oklahoma from Kansas State in 1999 and served on the Sooners’ staff under Stoops for 13 seasons, working with the linebackers and as defensive coordinator, a job he shared with Mike Stoops and later outright.

In the 13 years he was with the Sooners previously, Oklahoma won 139 games and lost 34, including seven Big 12 championships and a national title in 2000.

In 2012, Venables left OU to become defensive coordinator at Clemson. He remained in that position for a decade. While he was at Clemson, the Tigers won six Atlantic Coast Conference championships and two national championships. Clemson’s overall record during the time Venables was leading the defense was 121-17. The Clemson defense during Venables’ time on staff ranked in the top 10 nationally in scoring defense, total defense and third-down defense for most of his tenure.

Defensive improvement was clearly a major consideration in hiring Venables, but arguably not more so than the fact that the former Sooner defensive coordinator and assistant coach was one of OU’s own, considering how badly the Oklahoma defense had regressed under Riley and defensive coordinator Alex Grinch.

Although Venables’ second season at Oklahoma showed a noticeable improvement in some areas, the Sooner defense still wasn’t up to the new head coach’s standards as the team gets ready to leave the Big 12 for the SEC the following season.

Recruiting is a key component of continual progress. Talent and experience are brought in via the expanding transfer portal, as well as from the traditional high school ranks, in a way that seems to get deeper every year.

In terms of recruiting, Venables and his coaching team have excelled. Two of the major recruiting agencies placed his 2023 class in the top four, and Oklahoma’s 2024 class is now ranked sixth by Rivals and seventh nationally by 247Sports.

Mark Mangino, the former offensive coordinator for Oklahoma and member of Venables’ original coaching staff at Oklahoma, is a staunch advocate of the newly appointed Sooner head coach and speaks highly of him as a superb football coach and a person. This fall, Mangino stated in a radio interview that giving up on Venables too soon would be the worst decision Oklahoma and its supporters had ever made.

After two years, it is beginning to become clear that Mangino was right.

Will Howard, QB, Kansas State and Walter Nolen, DL, Texas A&M have also been announced as top players who are expected to be in the team before the start of the new season.