Brent Venables shares how he will prepare Oklahoma to face adversity

Brent Venables has spent his entire career – up to this point – as a college football assistant coach. He put in 13 years at Oklahoma from 1999-2011 and then another 10 at Clemson from 2012-2021. While Venables was a highly successful defensive coordinator and associate head coach over those 23 years, it’s no secret that he would one day get the opportunity to be a head coach somewhere.

That place happens to be Oklahoma, where he really kickstarted his coaching career under former Sooners’ coach Bob Stoops. Now entering his first season as the head man in Norman, Venables brings a wealth of experience to the table and should be able to be successful at OU.

While Oklahoma was led by now-USC head coach Lincoln Riley over the previous five seasons, the Sooners are now adjusting to Venables’ new styles of play – and the coach’s all-positive, high-energy personality. While Venables has been fired up since the moment he arrived back in Norman to take over as the Sooners’ head man, it’s seemed as if winter conditioning and spring practices have been highly successful for the team.

Although Venables may come off as if his team hasn’t missed a single beat, no team is perfect – and he made that clear while meeting with reporters last Friday. He said that Oklahoma has already faced adversity and will face adversity again – and he is preparing his players to be able to handle it.

“I’ll be honest – if anyone’s known me, I’ve always had a ton of energy,” Venables said. “I’ve always been very passionate, incredibly demanding. I try to lead from a place of optimism and positivity, but I’m not going to have my head in the sand when things aren’t right. I’m going to be very truthful, very honest.

“We haven’t played yet. I’m not naive, and certainly our coaches and our players aren’t ’cause we strain them – we create a lot of stress for them every day. We’ve had plenty of failure and plenty of tough days. It’s hard to get up in the middle of spring every day and bring your A-game. … It’s hard, it’s not easy. I don’t take it for granted – but if I don’t, they don’t. I can promise you.”

Venables continued his discussion by pointing out that it’s his job as a head coach to prepare his players to overcome any obstacle they may face – and to push them to maximize their potential.

“Part of being a coach is taking them to places that they can’t take themselves,” Venables said. “That’s why they need the coach. And so whether that’s mindset, that’s attitude, that’s energy, that’s how they respond to adversity – a coach is supposed to strain them. … That’s where the real growth happens – through those painful moments of failure, of adversity, of strain, of stress.”

Oklahoma’s annual spring game is scheduled to take place Saturday, April 23 at 4 p.m. ET at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman. Until then, the Sooners will continue to work through practices to prepare to play in front of their fans for the first time under Venables’ direction.