Jason Priester All Clemson
Time at Clemson Helped Prepare Brent Venables for Head Coaching Job at Oklahoma
When Clemson takes the field against Iowa State in the Cheez-It Bowl on December 29, they will do so without Brent Venables.
Considered one of the nation's best defensive minds, Venables has become a staple on the Tigers' sideline over the past decade. His defenses have been a huge part of why Clemson has been so successful in recent seasons.
However, the next time Venables is seen on the sidelines, it will be as head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners.
"In the last ten years, I’ve grown more as a coach, as a man, as a husband, as a father, as a dad to my girls, as a believer, all those areas that from a holistic standpoint are incredibly important," Venables said.
Venables came to Clemson following the 2011 season after spending more than a decade in Norman as an assistant under former Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops. While it was a lateral move, the transition was more difficult than Venables was expecting.
"For me, that was a very hard transition," Venables said. "I thought, ‘I’m Johnny Supercoach, I’ve got all this incredible pedigree and résumé and association. Man, I’m this hotshot coach. I’m a winner.' And what I learned at 40 years old, in a very humbling way, is you’ve got to start over and you’ve got to start over with relationships. You can’t bring your street cred with you. You have to earn that. It takes a lot of work, whether that’s with players or with colleagues. And it also gave me an opportunity just to kind of scale everything down and build it from scratch from the X’s and O’s standpoint."
Spending the past decade coaching under Swinney has left a lasting impression on Venables, something that he will carry with him to Norman. The longtime defensive coordinator credits Swinney and the time he spent at Clemson for preparing him for this next step in his coaching career.
"Coach Swinney is an amazing leader," Venables said. "He’s got every quality that you would want in a human being; the best man I’ve ever been around. But he pours into his coaches as much as he pours into his players. And so it’s really in every area that prepared me. Obviously, you know, he equipped me and empowered me and allowed me to do the things within the confines of his vision, to be a leader and inspire and challenge and to grow and to compete."
"You just go down that checklist of all the areas that I’ve grown, just a lot of wisdom. And, again, I think the biggest thing is just when you leave and get away from home and you’ve got to really find yourself. So, that’s what it really allowed me to do. And then he coaches as well as anybody that I’ve been around.”
