Thirty-one years and three national championships later, Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables believes he’s on the greatest defensive coaching staff he’s ever been part of with the 2025 Sooners.
In the midst of a 6-1 season thanks to the top defense in college football, Venables during Tuesday’s weekly press conference heaped praise on the loaded staff he assembled this offseason to bounce back from a disappointing 6-7 season last year.
Why Brent Venables says this is the best coaching staff he's been on
“This is the best defensive staff that I've been on since I've been coaching," Venables said. “And I’ve been on a couple of really amazing staffs. But top to bottom, understanding both the front end and the backend.
“This is a group that’s full of a bunch of great teachers, motivators, guys that show up with passion and energy.”
Venables’ coaching career started in 1993 as a graduated assistant under Bill Snyder at Kansas State, where he played linebacker before. In 1999, Venables became a co-defensive coordinator with Mike Stoops under Bob Stoops at Oklahoma and won his first of three national titles in 2000.
He won another two national championships as the defensive coordinator at Clemson under Dabo Swinney. Venables also earned the Broyles Award as the top assistant in the country in 2016.
Venables finally became a head coach to create his own staff in 2022, and with his job on the line at OU entering this season, Venables bet on himself and bolstered his supporting cast.
As Venables said, he’s good at it, so he took over defensive play-calling duties, and it’s obviously paid off as the Sooners are College Football Playoff contenders because of their defense. He also assembled one of the deepest defensive staffs in college football that includes six coaches with experience as a defensive coordinator at the college level.
That brain trust has created a unit that leads the country in total defense and is second in scoring defense entering Week 9.
“We’ve got a great cohesion and respect and trust amongst each other,” Venables said. "I try to provide an environment that nurtures opinion and also input. I don’t have all the answers, and we got a lot of really good coaches I’m trying to do a good job of empowering and helping.
“If we’re gonna be great, then it’s gonna take everybody.”