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Oklahoma Coach Brent Venables Makes Another Midseason Award Watch List

Venables has the Sooners ranked No. 6 and 6-0 so far, and has now found himself among 20 candidates for the Bobby Dodd Award.
John E. Hoover|
Oklahoma Coach Brent Venables Makes Another Midseason Award Watch List
Oklahoma Coach Brent Venables Makes Another Midseason Award Watch List

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Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma's Brent Venables is reaping the rewards of the Sooners' 6-0 start.

And the No. 6-ranked Sooners are reaping the rewards of hiring Venables last year.

Venables made his second midseason award watch list on Thursday as he was among 20 of the nation's top coaches included on the Bobby Dodd Award Watch List. Earlier this week he was included on the Bear Bryant Award watch list. 

The Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and Peach Bowl, Inc., released the list, which includes Texas' Steve Sarkisian from the Big 12 and former Sooners head man Lincoln Riley from USC.

Venables's second team has already matched the win total from his first. OU is 6-0 after going 6-7 a year ago, and is favored to win the Big 12 Conference and the program's eighth national championship, according to ESPN's FPI and Playoff Predictor. OU was ranked No. 12 before beating Texas, then jumped to No. 5 in the AP Top 25.

"What you hope and your coaching experience will say is for everything that we went through in the previous 12 months, success requires disappointment and struggle," Venables said. "And we certainly have had a lot of that those first 12 months with the group of guys that were here for those first 12 months. For me, (beating Texas) probably validated their hard work, affirmed their hard work, affirmed and reinforced how we do what we do." 

Managed by Peach Bowl, Inc. and presented by PNC Bank, The Dodd Trophy, college football’s most coveted national coaching award, celebrates the head coach of a team who enjoys success on the gridiron, while also stressing the importance of scholarship, leadership and integrity – the three pillars of legendary coach Bobby Dodd’s coaching philosophy.

The watch list was created through a selection process by the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and Peach Bowl, Inc., taking into consideration each program’s graduation rate, Graduation Success Rate (GSR), commitment to service and charity in the community, on-field success thus far for the 2023 season and Academic Progress Rate (APR).

Coaches named to this year’s midseason watch list were required to have an APR of 965 or higher. Additionally, coaches in the first year with their current teams were not included as they are ineligible to receive The Dodd Trophy until their second year with their program.

“Coaches named to The Dodd Trophy watch list historically hold themselves and their teams to a standard of excellence beyond just their success on the field, but also to their involvement in the community and their student-athletes’ achievements in the classroom,” said Jim Terry, chairman of the Boddy Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation. “That’s why we like to see a coach who has been at his school for at least two season and has established his own impact on the players and the program.”

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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