'The OU logo has never been stronger': Sooners finalize deal with Brent Venables to become head football coach

NORMAN — When Lincoln Riley suddenly departed to take over as USC’s head coach a week ago, the group text lit up.

The former OU players in the group — all from Bob Stoops’ earliest days with the Sooners — chimed in on their hopes for the next head coach.

Ontei Jones, the hard-hitting linebacker and defensive back who was part of OU’s 2000 national championship team, immediately threw out his support for Brent Venables.

“Knowing what he’s about — the physicality, the toughness — I feel that your team takes on the demeanor of the head coach,” Jones said Sunday as the Sooners closed in on hiring Venables to replace Riley. “I felt as if Oklahoma shouldn’t fall down the rabbit hole of chasing offense. I thought we should go for a defensive guy to stop giving up these basketball scores and focus on stopping people from scoring 40 so we don’t have to worry about all the five-star athletes and scoring 50 points a game.

“Brent Venables is my guy.”

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OU finalized a deal with Venables on Sunday to become the Sooners' 23rd head football coach, the school announced. Terms of the deal have not been announced.

The Sooners will introduce Venables at 10:30 a.m. Monday at Everest Training Center in Norman. Fans are invited and doors will open at 9:30 a.m.

"There's no question we are equipped to compete at the very highest level and attract the best players from across the country," Venables said in a statement. "The OU logo has never been stronger."

Bobby Jack Wright worked with Venables as an OU defensive assistant from 1999 until Venables left for Clemson in January 2012.

“I think it’s great for Brent and I think it’s great for OU,” Wright said. “I’m partial, obviously, because he was with us 12, 13 years at OU. I was with him that whole time.

“He did a great job. I really think that’s a great selection. I’m happy for OU and I’m certainly happy for Brent and his family because he’s definitely deserving.”

Venables has been the highest-paid assistant coach in college football, making $2.5 million per year.

Wright said Venables’ experience with another program was invaluable.

“I think it’s a big plus to see another way of doing things or seeing this is a better way or maybe the way we did this thing at Oklahoma is better than what we’re doing here,” Wright said. “It just gives him more information and more experience. There’s no way it could do anything but help a person in preparation for that first head coaching job.”

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Venables fits the mold of all but one coach brought aboard by the Sooners over the last 80 seasons — an assistant without previous head coaching experience.

The Salina, Kansas, native got his coaching start under Bill Snyder and Bob Stoops when Stoops was Kansas State’s defensive coordinator, then joined Stoops’ staff in 1999 at OU as co-defensive coordinator with Mike Stoops.

Venables and Mike Stoops quickly helped the Sooners build a strong defense, and the group was the backbone of OU’s 2000 national championship squad, holding Florida State without an offensive score during the Orange Bowl win.

Venables planned to head to law school after his playing career at Kansas State ended, but the Stoopses convinced him to join the Wildcats’ coaching staff as a graduate assistant. When Jim Leavitt left to become South Florida’s head coach three years later, Venables was hired to coach linebackers, thanks to plenty of prodding from Mike Stoops to ask legendary Kansas State coach Bill Snyder for the job.

Then when Bob Stoops was hired at OU after the 1998 season, Venables left his alma mater to join Stoops’ staff as co-defensive coordinator with Mike Stoops and linebackers coach.

Wright hadn’t coached with Venables before joining on Stoops’ staff.

“Brent was very, very well-prepared,” Wright said. “Spent a lot of time watching tape. He’s one of those guys, you can’t give him enough tape to watch. He’s gonna watch tape forever. … He left no stone unturned in his preparation for practice or for ball games.”

Sooner Nation: How do former OU football players feel about Brent Venables? 'He’s just a hell of a coach'

When Mike Stoops left the Sooners to become Arizona’s head coach in 2004, Venables took over as the sole defensive coordinator and was elevated to associate head coach.

He remained in that position until January 2012, when Mike Stoops returned to his brother’s staff.

Initially, the plan was for Venables and Mike Stoops to resume their co-defensive coordinator partnership, but Venables soon accepted the job as Dabo Swinney’s defensive coordinator at Clemson.

Venables helped turn around the Tigers’ defense quickly, helping elevate the Tigers among college football’s elite programs.

With Venables calling the defense, Clemson has won 10 or more games in each of Venables’ first nine seasons. A bowl win this season would extend that streak to 10.

Clemson has won a pair of national championships and played in two more title games during Venables’ tenure.

The Tigers led the Atlantic Coast Conference in total defense in five of the last six seasons, including this season.

Clemson is No. 2 nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 15 points per game.

In 2016, Venables won the Broyles Award as college football’s top assistant.

Now, he’ll take over a Sooners team that never found its groove this season, going 10-2 with six wins of a touchdown or less.

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In addition to building a staff in Norman, Venables will need to solidify his roster both with the players currently there and with the 2022 recruiting class.

Several Sooners, including quarterback Spencer Rattler, tight end Austin Stogner, and wide receivers Jadon Haselwood and Theo Wease have entered or are expected to enter the NCAA transfer portal.

Among Venables’ top priorities from the current roster figures to be working to persuade quarterback Caleb Williams to return.

Williams threw for 1,670 yards and 18 touchdowns with four interceptions this season and ran for 408 yards and six scores.

If Williams and Rattler both leave, that would leave the Sooners with walk-ons Ralph Rucker and Ben Harris and Penn State transfer Micah Bowens, with no quarterback committed in the 2022 class.

OU’s 2022 and 2023 recruiting classes have taken a hit since Riley’s surprise departure to USC last week, with several commitments flipping to the Trojans and several others decommitting without quickly committing to Riley and his new staff.

Bob Stoops will coach the Sooners in their upcoming bowl game after taking over as interim coach with Riley’s departure.

After that, though, it appears Venables will take over.

“Trust me, I’m happy,” Jones said. “I’m ecstatic. I don’t have any complaints.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU finalizes deal with Brent Venables to become head football coach