Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney spoke during his weekly Tuesday press conference about Brent Venables and the pressure on Oklahoma’s first-year head coach after three straight defeats.
Swinney was asked if he has talked to Venables and how he is handling things, with OU’s fan base seemingly impatient and upset by what’s going on amid the Sooners’ 3-3 start to the 2022 campaign.
Swinney knows that type of heat comes with the territory of being the head man at a big-time college football program.
“Listen, I mean, that just comes with it,” Swinney said. “It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, right. It just comes with it. But certainly have communicated with him. He’ll be fine.”
“Brent, this isn’t his first rodeo,” Swinney added. “I know it’s his first opportunity to be in the skillet. But he’ll be all right.”
A former 13-year Oklahoma assistant coach who won a national championship with the Sooners and two more with Clemson during his highly successful 10-year stint as defensive coordinator, Venables was named OU’s 23rd head football coach last December.
Oklahoma, which began this season ranked No. 9 in both the AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll, got off to a 3-0 start with home wins over UTEP and Kent State followed by a road victory over Nebraska.
The Sooners were ranked No. 6 in both polls entering their Week 4 home game against then-unranked Kansas State. But that’s when things began to go downhill for Venables’ team, with Oklahoma getting upset by the Wildcats 41-34 before suffering losses to TCU and Texas by a combined score of 104-24 over the last two weeks.
Despite the rough patch, Swinney is confident Venables will figure it out and get things turned around in Norman.
“He’ll get it right,” Swinney said. “He knows what he’s got to do. He hasn’t forgot how to coach or any of those things. Just a little tough stretch they’re in right now.”
–Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
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