Oklahoma Sooners defensive coordinator Brent Venables has taken over for Kevin Steele on the Clemson Tigers staff. His first order of business: don't ever give up 70 points in a bowl game. His second may be to win over unconvinced Clemson fans.
From before his drawn-out, confusing hire, here's Clemson blog Shakin' the Southland -- a blog with an excellent mind for defensive football, might I add -- with premonitions about the Tigers bringing him on:
Dabo was asked about his coaching search, which has at least four candidates. The first is known to be Oklahoma's Brent Venables, who I definitely do not want, and who OU fans want rid of, but he does follow the style that Dabo prefers on defense. Venables interviewed for the HC job before Dabo was hired.
Those OU fans who are believed to have wanted rid of Venables? They're concerned about waking up in a post-Venables world, actually, according to Oklahoma blog Crimson and Cream Machine:
Brent Venables was a good defensive coordinator. Was he perfect? No. Did he have tendencies that seemed to get a bit old and a bit predictable? Yep. However, there were a lot more good defenses under Venables then there were bad ones. He may be remembered for the 2011 defense because it was the last one he coached at Oklahoma but his legacy is much stronger than this last season. He had a great defense in 2008 and in 2009 along with some other defenses and defensive performances that were pretty salty.
Venables' exit, along with a wave of attrition and so forth, elsewhere has C&CM wondering just what Bob Stoops is up to these days, in his acknowledged wisdom.
For more on the parties involved, visit Oklahoma blog Crimson and Cream Machine and Clemson blog Shakin' the Southland.