By extending Brent Venables before the SEC move, Oklahoma doubles down on defense, development to reach goals

Oklahoma did it extended coach Brent Venables for six years. It comes with a decent raise for Venables, whose job is about to get tougher with the Sooners moving to the SEC on July 1 for the 2024 season.

Venables is 16-10 in two seasons with the Sooners, including a 10-8 mark in conference play. Those are mediocre numbers considering Venables is at the helm of the Big 12’s most dominant program. It’s the kind of sign that makes many raise an eyebrow when they hear about an extension.

So why did Oklahoma do this now rather than wait and see how things go in the first SEC season?

There is an obvious surface reason. Venables was in year 3 of a six-year contract. An extension now lets recruits know Venables isn’t on a “hot seat” and a possible rough start (have you seen Oklahoma’s 2024 schedule?) won’t be used against him and the Sooners on their new recruiting trail.

A much more demonstrative reason can be found when Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione introduced Venables in December 2021 as Lincoln Riley’s successor. Emphasis added is mine.

“This is a truly great day for Oklahoma – for our program, our current players, former players, recruits and fans. Coach Venables is a proven winner who over the years has helped his teams win 13 conference championships and three national titles and he developed one of the best defenses in the country. A born leader, he helped build and sustain an exceptional culture during his 13 years here at Oklahoma and 10 seasons at Clemson. He has a history of establishing meaningful relationships with his players and preparing them for the next level. Brent embraces competition and the challenges that come with it, and there is no doubt in my mind that he is the right man to lead OU football into its next great era.”

The end of the Riley era created a lot of revisionist history. You didn’t hear many complaints about Riley’s program when it won four Big 12 titles and produced exciting offenses led by Heisman Trophy winners Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray. However, the underpinnings of the complaints were evident in Oklahoma’s postseason failures; too often, the team’s defense has proven too difficult to overcome against other elite programs.

Riley’s teams reached the College Football Playoff in his first three seasons as coach, but did not win a game. While no one will ever forget the thrilling 54-48 double-overtime loss to Georgia in the 2018 Rose Bowl, the Sooners weren’t nearly as competitive in a 45-34 loss to Alabama or a 63-28 loss to LSU in other CFP semifinals. . That’s an average of 54 points allowed per playoff game. It doesn’t matter how good your offense is, it’s hard to win any game if you have 54 points.

Of course, Oklahoma wanted to improve its defense when Riley left and went with the logical option: a coach who not only helped build outstanding defenses at Clemson, but also did so at Oklahoma under Bob Stoops . So far, despite the win-loss record, Oklahoma is getting what it wanted.

Stripping out the 2020 season affected by COVID, here’s how Oklahoma’s defense has performed in Riley’s tenure compared to the first two seasons under Venables.

It’s an improvement across the board, even if it doesn’t seem like huge steps. Oklahoma’s defense took a massive step forward in each of those categories, including a 62.4 percent completion rate and 1.7 points allowed per possession. Those numbers ranked 22nd and 33rd nationally last year. They weren’t elite numbers, but both were drastic improvements over where Oklahoma had ranked in previous seasons.

In my opinion, Oklahoma has gotten stronger along the lines of play. I’ve never been concerned about Oklahoma’s offensive line heading to the SEC because as long as OL coach Bill Bedenbaugh is in charge, it will never be a problem. He may not have an elite unit every year, but he will never have a struggling unit either.

What about the defensive line? That’s where Oklahoma has come up short in recent years.

There’s a simple rule to competing in the SEC and Big Ten: You’re not going to win the league if you’re not strong on both lines of scrimmage. Alabama and Georgia have shown that every year, as has LSU at its best — even if that talent is often overshadowed by ridiculous qualifying positions. If you look at the Big Ten lately, Ohio State has been much more talented than Michigan at a lot of skill positions, but Michigan’s defensive line has been screaming the Buckeyes’ offensive line for three years. I would also argue that Penn State’s offensive line was the biggest obstacle in overcoming both, but I digress.

Oklahoma has produced just two defensive linemen in the first round of an NFL draft in the past 20 years: Tommie Harris in 2004 (No. 14 to Chicago) and Gerald McCoy in 2010 (No. 3 to Tampa Bay). That’s a long time for a top-tier program to be without a first-round pick at a premium position. What do Harris and McCoy have in common? Venables served as defensive coordinator for both, with shared responsibilities under Harris and sole responsibilities under McCoy.

At Clemson, Venables developed six first-round picks (Shaq Lawson, Dexter Lawrence, Christian Wilkins, Clelin Ferrell, Bryan Bresee and Myles Murphy) on the defensive line in 10 seasons. Another nine, if we include the 2024 Draft, were picked in the second round or later.

During Venables’ decade as defensive coordinator at Clemson, Oklahoma had 12 defensive linemen drafted, three of which came in 2012 and 2013 and were coached by Venables while he was there as coordinator.

Developing defensive linemen is Venables’ forte, but even the greatest coaches need talent to mold. He gets it. Here’s how Oklahoma drafted the defensive line under Riley compared to Venables’ first two seasons.

Although instructive, the table lacks meaningful context. For example, of the 16 top defensive line prospects signed under Riley, six came in the 2018 class and only eight were members of Riley’s last three classes. Also, Venables’ entire tenure at Oklahoma was in the transfer portal era, and the Sooners brought in 10 more defensive linemen through the portal in their first three classes.

Not only did the current Oklahoma staff bring in a higher caliber of defensive linemen (blue-chip ratio), but they put a stronger emphasis on the position. Plus, you know, the transfer load suggests that Venables’ staff weren’t too keen on the options they inherited.

When Castiglione announced Venables’ hiring, he made it clear the Sooners were looking for a coach who could improve the team’s defensive performance while developing NFL talent. Venables has already improved the defense’s numbers, and the top three recruiting classes along with his track record suggest the Sooners are well on their way to developing NFL talent on that side of the ball.

That’s why Oklahoma extended Venables.