Brent Venables reveals wife's cancer has returned, had surgery to remove tumor

Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables revealed that his wife, Julie, had surgery last week to remove a tumor after she was re-diagnosed with cancer in May.

Venables revelaed ahead of the 2023 season that his wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer in June of last year. In March this year, he revealed that she was cancer free. However, Venables revealed on Monday that the cancer returned in May.

“A big part of the battle was her choice to fight and she’s going to keep swinging,” Venables said of his wife on his coaches show on Monday, via Sooner Scoop’s George Stoia III.

Brent and Julie have been married since 1997 and have four children together. Two of their sons, Jake and Tyler, played defense under Venables during while he was the defensive coordinator at Clemson. He held that position from 2012 until 2021 when he was hired as the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners before the 2022 college football season.

Julie had to go through two surgeries and underwent chemotherapy during her first battle. However, less than a year after her diagnosis she was announced cancer-free. Venables said at the time that he was thankful for the fans and members of the football program who were there for him throughout this difficult time.

“It’s been nothing short of amazing the group of people that have helped, whether it’s the doctors or administration, people I work with, our staff, our players, our players’ parents and certainly so many friends and the Sooner nation,” Venables said back in March.

Brent Venables will be on the sideline with the Sooners as Oklahoma hosts a ranked Alabama team on Saturday. Oklahoma can become bowl eligible with a victory heading into the regular season finale on the road against LSU. They’re 14-point betting underdogs against the Crimson Tide at home ahead of Week 13.

Venables is 21-15 as head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners since taking over the program ahead of the 2022 season.