New Defensive Assistants Nate Dreiling and Wes Goodwin Bring 'Excellence' to Oklahoma

NORMAN — Brent Venables’ defensive staff has two new faces that will partake in their first spring practice at Oklahoma over the coming weeks.

Linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator Zac Alley left Norman for West Virginia after the Armed Forces Bowl, opening up a spot on staff.

Venables and OU pursued defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, who ended up leaving Ohio State for Penn State. After Knowles decided to stay in the Big Ten, Venables assumed playcalling duties himself and made a pair of hires.

Former Utah State defensive coordinator and interim head coach Nate Dreiling was tasked with coaching Oklahoma’s inside linebackers, while former Clemson defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin joined the staff to help coach Venables’ outside linebacker/cheetah position.

“Nate Dreiling and Wes Goodwin — just two fantastic football coaches with great, great careers,” Venables said during his press conference at OU Spring Media Day on Wednesday. “Different sample sizes. But they’ve represented excellence.”

Dreiling arrived at Utah State in 2024 after two successful years as the defensive coordinator for New Mexico State.

He was supposed to just take over the defense, but he was thrust into taking on head coaching duties after Blake Anderson was removed as the head of the program last July.

“One of the most attractive qualities that there was about Nate Dreiling is he’s just a winner,” Venables said. “Everything he’s done, he’s won.

“… Took a coordinator job at Utah State and was thrown in the fire as the interim head coach when they let their head coach go… You just got there, then they made you as their interim head coach. You obviously had an impact in some shape, form or fashion. Not surprised. He’s an alpha. That’s who I would say Nate Dreiling is.”

Venables knew Dreiling and his dad through is background in Kansas, where Dreiling’s dad established himself as a coaching legend.

The process of tapping up Dreiling to come to Norman was a straightforward as they come, Venables said.

“One of the most attractive things is as I was interviewing several people,” said Venables, “the thing I had with Nate is he said, ‘I’ll walk to Norman, Oklahoma. I don’t care about money. I don’t care about titles. I want to come work with you and work with that staff and coach at Oklahoma. I want to help you be successful.’

“That’s not the only reason, but that was another — some people are really needy, and that’s fine, too. We have plenty of resources to make sure we’ve got the right guy.”

Dreiling will team up with Goodwin to coach the linebackers, who is someone Venables is very comfortable with.

Goodwin first crossed paths with Venables as a defensive analyst at Clemson, and then after a three year stint working with Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians, Goodwin returned to the Tigers in 2018 to work as a senior defensive assistant.

“Obviously I had a relationship with Wes that goes back quite a ways,” Venables said. “He was a guy that I was likely going to hire as a position coach here on our first staff and coach (Dabo) Swinney named him as the defensive coordinator. I wasn’t surprised. Incredibly, highly qualified and he did a fantastic job while he was at Clemson.”

Clemson made a change at defensive coordinator at the end of the season, which made Goodwin available for Venables.

“He’s going to work specifically with our Cheetahs,” Venables said, “and I think eight of the nine linebackers that he coaches over those three years (as defensive coordinator at Clemson) were All-ACC selections.

“… (He’s a) Coach that’s won a national championship and coached in several conference championships as well, and somebody that I’m just thrilled to have. We built a lot of great defenses together and won a bunch of games together. He’s plugged right in with the rest of our staff.”

The Sooners will hit the field for a full practice for the first time this spring on Thursday afternoon.