Where does Brent Venables stand in USA Today's ranking of SEC head coaches?

Brent Venables is in just his third season as a college head coach, but he's been a college football coach for nearly three decades and is highly respected as one of the best defensive coaches in the college game.

While Venables is a relative newcomer as a head coach, he had the good fortune to serve as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator under two head coaches with incredible records of success while Venables was on the staff.

In 13 seasons with Bob Stoops at Oklahoma, the Sooners were a combined 139-34, including 10 Big 12 championships and a national championship (2000). He also was the defensive coordinator at Clemson under Dabo Sweeney from 2012-21. In 10 seasons there, Clemson went 121-17 with six conference titles and two national championships (2016, 2018). An impressive coaching resume, to say the least. Needless to say, the defensive units where Venables has been have been second to none.

Venables' record as a head coach is a modest 16-10, but as an assistant coach at Kansas State, Oklahoma and Clemson, he is a collective 291-57, a winning percentage of .836. in fact, only twice as a player, assistant coach or head coach, has a team Venables has been a part of had a losing season. Kansas State was 5-6 his senior year as a player, and Oklahoma was 6-7 in 2022, Venables' first season as head coach.

Which gets us to the subject of ranking head coaches. It seems to be a popular thing every season in sports media to rank head coaches, whether it be nationally or within the conference in which their teams compete.

On the basis of total wins and/or winning percentage, plus number of championship seasons, which is probably the most general and practical way of evaluating a head coaches performance, Venables hardly stands much of a chance due to his short tenure as a head ball coach.

Last season, as an example, Sports Illustrated ranked Venables No. 9 out of the 14 Big 12 head coaches. All of the coaches ranked ahead of him were longer tenured, plus Venables' first season had resulted in a highly disappointing 6-7 record. He's likely be rated higher this season after finishing 10-3 in Year 2.

Now it's on to the SEC for Venables and Oklahoma, a conference that has won six of the last 10 national championships. And there is a good reason for that. The SEC has some of the best coaches, players and teams in all of college football.

Over the past weekend, USA Today posted an article by staff writer Blake Toppmeyer ranking the college football head coaches in the 16-team SEC. Venables ranked 11th. It probably shouldn't be a surprise that Kirby Smart of Georgia was No. 1 or that Brian Kelly of LSU was right behind Smart at No. 2. The eight other head coaches ranked ahead of Venables all have more time in grade in their positions and stronger head-coaching resumes than the Sooners' head man, but again, that is merely a timing factor.

"The jury remains in deliberations as to whether Venables will be a hit at OU.," Toppmeyer wrote about the Sooner head coach. "He misfired in Year 1 before rebounding last year. His expertise comes on defense, a unit that remains under construction but is improving. His star quarterback and offensive coordinator departed in the offseason. The fork in the road of his tenure arrives this year."

This won't be judgement year for Venables, regardless of the outcome. He signed a six-year contract extension ahead of the 2024 season, so OU officials are betting on him being around for the immediate future. But his stock both at OU and within the SEC should improve nicely if he can pull off an eight- or nine-win season, as some college football experts and computer models are predicting.