American football player and coach (born 1970)

Thomas Brent Venables (born December 18, 1970) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at the University of Oklahoma. He previously served as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Clemson University from 2012 to 2021 and *ociate head coach from 2018 to 2021.

Venables played college football at Kansas State University as a linebacker from 1991 to 1992. Prior to his tenure at Oklahoma, he held various *istant coaching positions at Kansas State University, University of Oklahoma and Clemson University. Venables was awarded the Broyles Award in 2016.

Contents

• 1 Playing career
• 2 Coaching career
  • 2.1 Early career
  • 2.2 Oklahoma
  • 2.3 Clemson
  • 2.4 Oklahoma (second stint)
• 3 Personal life
• 4 Head coaching record
• 5 References
• 6 External links

Playing career

From 1989 to 1990, Venables played linebacker at Garden City Community College then at Kansas State University under head coach Bill Snyder from 1991 to 1992.

Coaching career

Early career

In 1993, Venables began his coaching career at Kansas State University as a graduate *istant. In 1996, Venables was promoted to linebackers coach and would serve in that capacity until 1998.

Oklahoma

From 1999 to 2011, Venables began coaching at the University of Oklahoma, where he served as *ociate head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for the Sooners under head coach Bob Stoops, with whom he previously worked at Kansas State.

In 2006, he was one of five finalists for the Broyles Award for the nation's top *istant coach.

Clemson

In January 2012, after it was announced that Mike Stoops would be returning to Oklahoma to resume the defensive coordinator position he had held until 2004, Venables accepted the position of defensive coordinator at Clemson, where his salary was expected to be between $750,000 and $1 million. Venables had been previously reported to be a candidate for the head coaching position at a number of schools including Miami, Kansas, Kansas State, and Texas Tech.

On December 6, 2016, Venables was named the winner of the 2016 Broyles Award for the nation's top *istant coach.

Clemson Diehards reported on December 6, 2017, that Venables was the second-highest paid *istant football coach in college football that year, receiving $1.7 million from Clemson. The only coach in this category receiving more money was Dave Aranda of LSU, who was paid $1.8 million.

Oklahoma (second stint)

On December 5, 2021, Venables was named the 23rd head coach at the University of Oklahoma, replacing Lincoln Riley after his departure to become the head coach at the University of Southern California (USC).

Personal life

Venables and his wife, Julie, have four children: sons Jake and Tyler, who played football at Clemson, and daughters Laney and Addie.

Head coaching record

References

External links

• Clemson profile