Brent Venables is more than content with where he is at the moment.
He’s entering his 10th season as the defensive coordinator at Clemson, where he’s overseen some of college football’s top defensive units that have been part of six straight College Football Playoff appearances and two national championships. Amid his reported candidacy for head coaching jobs, Clemson rewarded Venables this offseason by making him the highest-paid assistant coach in college football.
As for his roots, that’s invoking a different kind of emotion in the 50-year-old coaching veteran.
With recent news of the impending move of Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 to the SEC, Venables said he’s sad for the conference to which he’s got strong ties. Venables played for the legendary Bill Snyder at Kansas State and got his coaching career started at his alma mater as a graduate assistant in what was known then as the Big Eight Conference.
To make matters worse for the Big 12, the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 are in discussions about possibly forming an alliance in response to the SEC’s move, leaving the conference out in the cold when it comes to the ever-changing landscape of college athletics at the Power Five level.
“I’m a loyalist and a traditionalist at heart,” Venables said. “I was player in the Big Eight and a coach in the Big Eight. Coached in the first game in the history of the Big 12 Conference — Kansas State vs. Texas Tech — with Byron Hanspard and Zebbie Lethridge at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. So, yeah, I’m very connected to that. It’s sad.”
Venables also coached at Oklahoma, where he was Bob Stoops’ longtime defensive coordinator before leaving for Clemson in 2012. He had assistant head coach added to his title in 2018.
But Venables, who was born in Salina, Kansas, won’t soon forget where it all started for him.
“There will be some good that comes out of it. Don’t know what exactly that is right now, but the game and the landscape we’re in, as we all know, is changing as we move forward. Sad in many ways, but I’ve got great, great memories of the Big 12 Conference.”
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