Brent Venables Has Best Odds to Get Oklahoma Job: Sportsline
Brent Venables has the best odds to replace Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma, according to odds set by Spotsline.com, which were released on Monday.
Riley resigned from Oklahoma on Sunday to take the USC job.
Venables, who is currently the defensive coordinator at Clemson, was given +400 odds by the site to get the job. Behind Venables is current Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin (+500), Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops (+500), Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell (+600) and Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell (+700).
Nevada head coach Jay Norvell, former OU head coach Bob Stoops — who will serve as the interim coach for the bowl game — Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer, Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal, Baylor head coach Dave Aranda and Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury were behind the Top 5.
Venables has a long history at Oklahoma, as he served on Bob Stoops’ staff rom 1999-2011, with most of that tenure spent as the defensive coordinator. He moved on to Clemson, where he became Dabo Swinney’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, and helped the Tigers win two national titles.
Venables has a reputation as one of the best defensive minds in the country, and he’s been a candidate for other head-coaching jobs before. But he’s been hard to pry from Clemson, where he is one of the highest-paid assistant coaches in the country. Both of his sons, Jake and Tyler, play at Clemson.
But, if Venables were to take the Oklahoma job, he wouldn’t have to leave his family behind. Jake announced last week that he was foregoing his final two years of eligibility due to injuries. The new transfer rules would allow Tyler to follow his dad to Norman without sitting out a year, if he so chooses.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
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