Discover the SEC Football’s Most Underappreciated Head Coach
The discussion around the potential addition of Steve Sarkisian’s Texas Longhorns, Kalen DeBoer of Alabama, Brian Kelly of LSU, and other existing league members leaves other coaches far less in the spotlight. In this piece, I discuss a coach and program that are mostly unnoticed by the SEC.
Out of the two teams that will join the SEC in 2024, the Oklahoma Sooners are the one that gets spoken about the least. The other one? It’s the Texas Longhorns, of course.
The Longhorns, who are coached by Steve Sarkisian, a former assistant to Nick Saban, are receiving increased attention as a national brand in addition to Sarkisian. And although the focus is warranted, Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables is another who deserves greater recognition in the context of head coaches.
Venables has always been on the defensive end of the ball, even during his playing days with the Kansas State Wildcats.
The majority of people recall Venables from his lengthy tenure as defensive coordinator for the Oklahoma Sooners under legendary head coach Bob Stoops, as well as his subsequent move to Clemson to coach in the same capacity under Dabo Swinney.
Venables lived in Norman for thirteen years and then in Clemson for ten more. Thirteen of Venables players were chosen among the first 100 choices of the NFL draft during his tenure at each location.
Even in the SEC, offenses are becoming more common these days, but defense is still key. Joe Castiglione, the director of athletics and vice president for intercollegiate athletics programs at Oklahoma University, deserves more attention around the country for this hiring. Castiglione understood the Sooners needed more of a defensive mentality in the locker room, whether they joined the SEC or not, even though the hiring occurred before Oklahoma officially announced its intention to join.
Even if it didn’t appear spectacular at the moment, Venables is demonstrating that he can and will complete the task. Venables has led the Sooners from a 6-7 squad in his first three seasons as head coach in Norman into 10-3 in his subsequent season. Oh, and they defeated the Longhorns during that 10-3 campaign in 2023.
While it’s true that the Longhorns had a superior season overall, we must not overlook Venables. And it applies to the SEC as a whole as well as to how it relates to Texas.
Coaches that are relatively new to the league and receiving a lot of attention include Josh Heupel, Brian Kelly, and Kalen DeBoer. Though they appear to be working in quiet after a stellar 10-win season in 2023, keep an eye out for Venables and the Sooners in 2024. I predicted that the Sooners will have a 10–11 win season in 2024, which will undoubtedly increase Venables’ and the team’s national profile. Until then, though, I’m quite sure that Brent Venables is the SEC’s most underappreciated coach.
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