Report: Brent Venables leaving Clemson to be new Oklahoma head coach

Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables is reportedly leaving Dabo Swinney’s program to return to Oklahoma to be the new head coach of the Sooners.

Brent Venables is coming back to Oklahoma as the new head coach of the Sooners.

According to Bruce Feldman of The Athletic, Venables and Oklahoma are finalizing a deal to make him the successor to Lincoln Riley who left to be the USC head coach after the regular season ended last weekend.

Venables, 50, was a longtime assistant coach at Oklahoma under Bob Stoops, who will serve as the interim head coach for the team’s bowl game. Venables was the co-dc/linebackers coach from 1999-2003 before getting promoted to assistant head coach and defensive coordinator where he held that position from 2004-2011.

Brent Venables returns to Oklahoma where he was an assistant under Bob Stoops

During his time at Oklahoma, Venables annually had some of the best defenses in the Big 12 and in the nation, sending dozens and dozens of players to the NFL.

Venables left Oklahoma for the Clemson job where he enjoyed even more success on Dabo Swinney’s staff, winning two national championships. He had been mentioned as a candidate for head coaching jobs for the last several years, especially after winning the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant in 2016, but remained loyal to Clemson and Swinney.

Clemson had the nation’s No. 2 scoring defense under Venables in 2021.

That was until Oklahoma surprisingly opened up with Riley’s sudden departure for USC.

This was a job that was too good to pass up for Venables.

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