Brent Venables joins group of Sooner honorees after OU's uplifting upset of Alabama

Oklahoma's much-needed, moral-boosting win over Alabama over the weekend was the gift that keeps on giving.

The Sooners were named the Cheez-It National Team of the Week by the Football Writers Association of America and three Sooner players were awarded weekly honors as Players of the Week in the SEC Conference.

And that's not all. Head coach Brent Venables is the Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Week, and it couldn't have come at a better time for the third-year OU head coach, who has faced all kinds of adversity with the Sooner football team this season and just last week disclosed that his wife Julie's cancer has returned.

His wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in the summer of 2023. In March this year, she announced she had "zero cancer," but Venables said the cancer returned in May and Julie has been traveling back and forth to New York the past several months.

It was a week of extreme highs and lows for the Oklahoma head coach, who has been under fire all season for the Sooners' disappointing on-field performance, but the invigorating victory over the top ten-ranked Crimson Tide, one Venables called "dominant," capped the week with a giant positive.

"There's not been anything easy about this season for us," Venables told a TV reporter among a mobbed frenzy as he worked his way across the field after the win on Saturday. "I guess the harder it is, the more epic the story. "

In his typical self-effacing manner, Venables immediately redirected the story to one about the players: "What these guys have had to go through and overcome...What a night. What a performance."

With the win over Alabama, Oklahoma improved to 6-5 for the season and earned bowl eligibility. In his three seasons leading the Sooneer football program, Venables has compiled a 22-15 record. The win on Saturday gives him four wins over top-25 opponents.

Venables was part of Bob Stoops coaching staff when the latter become OU's head coach in 1999. Having served as co-defensive coordinator for 13 seasons, Venables left Oklahoma after the 2011 season to become defensive coordinator at Clemson, a post he held for 10 seasons before returning to Norman in December 2021 following the departure of Lincoln Riley.

As an assistant coach, Venables was part of 26 winning seasons, four College Football Playoff national championship game appearances and 13 conference titles.