Brent Venables goes into great detail about what made Oklahoma the perfect job for him

When Brent Venables got the call to become the next Oklahoma football coach, it just felt right. Venables had been the defensive coordinator for 10 seasons at Clemson and received plenty of other offers in his time with the Tigers.

But with Oklahoma, he knew it was finally time to move on. Venables had previously served as the Sooners defensive coordinator on Bob Stoops’ staff from 1999-2011, where he was one of the first hires. Although Stoops retired in 2017, he is still very involved with the football program and many of the university leaders that were there when Venables left — including athletic director Joe Castiglione — still remain in Norman.

Ultimately it was those connections that played a part in luring Brent Venables back to Oklahoma.

“Relationships was a big part of it having lived and been a part of this program, this community, this university for 13 years,” Venables said on the College Football Daily podcast. “That was a big part of it. Certainly a level of comfort in relationships with the same athletic director in Joe Castiglione, who is as good as there is in the business. Not only success, but championship excellence and stable leadership. Joe Harroz — the president of our university — when I was here before he was the dean of our law school. Then he became general counsel for the university and now the president.

“…I was with coach Stoops when he was here. He came in 1999 and recruited me out of high school. He’s still a big part of this program on and off the field. He has a couple sons still on the team. In this process when it came open, there was a lot of comfort and clarity for me. It doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have left for another job, but it had to be the right one. A place where you can win at the highest level.”

During his time with the Sooners, Venables helped lead the team to a national championship in 2000 as well as seven Big 12 titles. He then added two more national crowns and five ACC championships at Clemson under Dabo Swinney. Now Venables is hoping to collect a few more as a head coach.

He pointed to Oklahoma’s track record of success as another reason he took the job. Prior to this past season, the Sooners had won six consecutive Big 12 championships from 2015-20. They’re also tied with Georgia for the fourth-most appearances in the College Football Playoff with four.

“A lot of stability,” Venables said. “This program has won the most games in college football over the last 50 years. The only program since 1999 that has not endured a losing season. A place that has the most conference championships in the genesis of college football. Fifty of ’em. …Sold out every home game since 1999. Had the best winning percentage I believe since 2000. Lost 11 times the last 21 years in that stadium. A lot of people talk about the number of seats they have in their stadium, but we’ve sold ’em out and not only that we’ve won. So try to take a great program that’s been very stable and won 78 games the last seven years.”

Venables knows the path to sustaining that kind of success won’t be easy, especially with OU set to join the SEC soon. But the coach is happy where he’s at and believes he has the right people around him to make it happen. The Sooners are set to open Brent Venables era on Sept. 3 against the UTEP Miners.