We’ve hit the point of the summer where award watch lists are going to be coming out just about every day.
Oklahoma Head Coach Brent Venables is up first as he was named to the 2023 Dodd Trophy preseason watch list.
The trophy is named for legendary Georgia Tech coach Bobby Dodd. The Dodd Trophy was established in 1976 to honor the FBS football coach whose program represents three pillars of success: Scholarship, Leadership, and Integrity. The award honors the coach of a team with a successful season on the field and, equally as important, stresses the importance of academic excellence and the desire to give back to the community.
Brent Venables named to 2023 Dodd Trophy Preseason Watch List.
Congrats @CoachVenables! #OUDNA | @thedoddtrophy pic.twitter.com/dYDbfJYLdM
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) July 14, 2023
It’s to be determined if the Sooners will have a successful season on the field, but since Venables has taken over, the Sooners have excelled off of it.
Venables said at Big 12 Media Days, they had the highest GPA in program history.
That’s a big reason why so many people are a believer in Venables. Becoming a great head coach, it’s much more than just winning games.
While that is the most important thing and the thing that will determine your job status, the off-the-field stuff matters.
It was so eye-opening to hear Venables talk about players not going to class or doing things they need to be doing off the field to be successful when he arrived in Norman.
That’s the kind of stuff that doesn’t get talked about enough, and when you are winning, it’s overlooked. When a head coach is talking to the parents of a prospective athlete, highlighting the academic success and community involvement of his team can go a long way to putting a parent’s mind at ease about their choice of University.
Though Oklahoma hasn’t had the on-field success to tout in recruiting battles, the culture of excellence that Venables and his staff are creating off the field with the help of the S.O.U.L. Mission has moved the needle among prospects and their families.
If Brent Venables and the Oklahoma Sooners are able to improve to a nine or 10-win season on the field, the off-field success will help give the Sooners head coach an opportunity to take home the illustrious award.
If he did that, he’d be only the second coach to do that in program history, joining Bob Stoops, who won it in 2003.
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