Brent Venables’ search for the Oklahoma Sooners’ next defensive coordinator shouldn’t go beyond the mirror he gets ready for another day in front of.
Venables does not need to label himself defensive coordinator, but he should be the leader of the unit, with help from the support he already has on staff.
OU has been without a defensive coordinator for over a month, which seems like years in college football offseason time. Yet, the Switzer Center hasn’t crumbled during that time. In fact, if anything, it’s even been renovated.
The Sooners lost only one defensive player (linebacker Lewis Carter) after Zac Alley left OU to be the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at West Virginia. And even that can’t be attributed to Alley’s departure considering Carter was in Norman long before Alley was.
The additions have also been much greater than the losses since. The Sooners' only two defensive commits from the transfer portal came after Alley bolted. Venables landed Marvin Jones Jr. from Florida State and Kendal Daniels from Oklahoma State without an actual defensive coordinator on staff.
The presumed leader of OU’s defense leaving Norman didn’t change anything. Probably because Alley wasn’t really the mastermind anyway.
Those within the program, or even in close proximity, know the defense is Venables’ system no matter who has had the defensive coordinator title since he’s been OU’s head coach. That statement can be backed up by the Sooners bringing in defensive talent and not losing any during a defensive coordinator search.
That’s a reason it was such a shock Venables would even go after a big-time coordinator like Jim Knowles. The Sooners were reportedly willing to pay Knowles $3 million. Seems like a waste of money when your $8 million head coach could do the job.
That $3 million could buy a lot of defensive talent in today's NIL world.
Venables wouldn't even need to spend a dime on more coaches, other than maybe another linebackers coach (or promote assistant linebackers coach James Skalski, who's already been on the recruiting trail. He already has two co-defensive coordinators on staff in Todd Bates and Jay Valai. Safeties coach Brandon Hall has also been a defensive coordinator at three previous stops.
Why are three co-defensive coordinators under a defensive-minded coach even necessary?
Frankly, Venables' job as a head coach is on the line. These coordinator hires could save his job, so why not bet on yourself?
The reason Venables even has his current job is because of how good of a defensive coordinator he was. He won national championships at OU and Clemson thanks to stout defenses he at least helped lead.
Even as a head coach, Venables has transformed the Sooners back into a defensive program after years of just trying to outscore opponents instead of getting the most stops.
The defense at Oklahoma is not broken, even during a 6-7 season. In fact, it might be the only good thing about OU football right now.
So while Brent Venables let's someone else fix the offense, he needs to rely on what created the best part of the Sooners: Himself.