3 p.m. update: What’s next for Stoopses, Venables?
CAMPUS CORNER — A fluid day and week around here, to say the least.
Mike Stoops has confirmed his return, says he’s on his way to town – but still nothing official has been put out by the university. Stoops said just before noon that “some formalities” remain.
The clock has evidently run out on waiting for Willie Martinez to land another job. He’s no longer with the school, I was told earlier this afternoon. I’m under the impression he had not been recruiting for OU for, oh, about a week. That’s why you saw promised and promising cornerback De’Vante Harris decommit last weekend.
So, I’m expecting to see something this afternoon/evening or in the morning from OU, regarding the reuniting of the Stoops brothers and Martinez’s status. I’m curious to see how all of that is phrased. I’m fairly sure it’ll say Martinez is “pursuing other professional opportunities” or something to that effect.
Then there’s the Brent Venables curveball. And credit Tulsa’s Dave Sittler for unearthing that new information from Bob Stoops, because I had been told repeatedly, at every turn, that Venables was fine with Mike Stoops coming back. He was interested in getting back to the championship-contender level at OU and saw that as the best means to do so. (You’ve already seen Mike Stoops say things to that effect, as well. He’s referenced or mentioned Venables, by name.)
And maybe Venables really is OK with it, on some levels, but he understands that this would certainly be perceived by, well, pretty much everyone as a demotion. Presuming it is considered in the coaching world that way, maybe that would limit Venables’ opportunities – especially as a head coach – in the future. I could see how Venables might want to avoid that, if he still maintains those aspirations.
I’m under the impression that he does, considering he had at least passing interest in some of the recently filled middle-tier vacancies – a job like Southern Miss, for instance. So, when Venables received interest from major programs to be their defensive coordinator — Auburn … then West Virginia … maybe now Clemson — he was forced to listen. And that’s where we are.
Like every other reporter under the sun, I’ve tried to reach out to Venables. No one’s hearing a whole lot — at least not right now. Sounds as if Venables is weighing his options, and rightfully so. I wouldn’t be surprised if this continued for a few days, maybe even through the weekend — and especially if Clemson is at all an option, since that position only opened today.
It’s intriguing.
At OU, Venables would effectively be second in command to Mike Stoops, even though he had been in control of the defense since 2004.
At West Virginia, there’s some question as to how Dana Holgorsen would divide the authority between Venables and Joe DeForest, just hired Wednesday from OSU.
At Clemson, Kevin Steele had full control and there’s no reason to think the next guy wouldn’t have the same responsibilities. Dabo Swinney, a former receivers coach, sure isn’t going to meddle with the defense.
Venables is doing fine financially at OU, but he would see a bump at either West Virginia or Clemson. Both would probably pay somewhere in the $600-750K neighborhood. Steele’s buyout, for a point of reference, was a reported $1.15 million.
Let’s see where it goes from here … Next move will be OU, I believe, and then Venables.
= Trav
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Comments
Maybe we can hurry up and tell DH what Coach Mike’s defenses/secondarys did between ’00 and ’04. The kid from CA isn’t ranked as highly…
Brent, “bloom where you are planted”. Sometimes the best move is not move at all. Uprooting and moving to a new place for perception purposes is a lame reason to go.
Brent, go! They’re not listening to you here anymore. We need to clean house on defense. It’s been a gradual and ugly decline.
Brent is an excellent linebacker coach and recruiter. I’d hate to see him leave. That said, our defense has been inconsistent for years and Mike Stoops might be just the tonic that it needs!
Stay BV! Your stock will do nothing but soar! Younhave coached 2 defenses to a NC game and had the task of coaching one more defense in a NC game when Mike went to Zona….you have nothing to prove to anyone. Ray is right….Owen field is big enough for you and Mike. Think about all of the talk about OU’s great linebackers, and the Awards that will be won, NFl picks and All-Americans….two heads are always better than one. If you are looking for a great HC job one day…stay at OU and continue to build your resume. Don’t do what Long and KW did…look at Sumlin….Win a couple of NCs and you will have your pick of jobs…
Time for Venabels to go. The defense has been just average at best. The Stoops brothers will shore things up and get our defense back where it needs to be. Our secondary needs coached up and Mike will do that. Georgia fired Martinez and looked what he did for our secondary.
Changing coaches to stay on top is a sign of the times. Look around Bob. Brent will take a pay cut at WV or anywhere else. But he will be employed. Supporters and fans have seen, for a longtime, that there was a problem on defense since Mike left.
Problem in the offensive line since Mark left. Problem in special teams since Jonathan Hays left. It was proved once again that hiring coaches to be their friend backfires. Martinez was let go by Richt at Georgia for the same thing he was let go at OU. Wilson recommended Patton, now we can’t run block. That didn’t happen with Mangino.
i hope brent stays! this is not the venables of even two years ago. he has learned, matured and recruited well. brent speaks the the language of high school athletes and seems to establish an immediate rapport with them. as to his falling stats, remember that college football is now a “throwing-catching” game and defence alignments take time and maturity to gel. My hope would have been that mike stoops would be on brent’s staff. after all arizona was not on everyone’s admiration list.
Paying people to do a job and they fail, bad business. Hiring two people to do the same job, really bad business. Keeping these people employed for long periods of time, giving them huge raises and perks, is beyond stupid. College athletics is a business, Not the Elks Lodge. Hiring friends is always a bad idea even in coaching. Eventually you will have to unhire them, and that’s hard.
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