Did Brent Venables Do Anything Wrong Recruiting in His Final Days? Not at All

Oklahoma Sooners HC Brent Venables was out on the recruiting trail for the Clemson Tigers in his final days with the Tigers, which led some fans to question his intentions.

The Clemson Tigers suffered a rash of decommitments in the days leading up to the early signing day last Wednesday. This led many fans of the Tigers to wonder if the three key pieces of the defensive recruiting class who chose to leave the Tigers were influenced by former defensive coordinator Brent Venables' decision to leave the program to become the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners.

Or worse yet, they wondered if he was out there trying to poach recruits from the Tigers.

The fans need not worry though, because instead of trying to steal recruits away from the Tigers, Venables was trying to get the recruits to stay with the Tigers—even after he was gone.

"So, you know, by being upfront and honest and doing things the right way, sometimes that can hurt you in this game, but overall it’ll serve you well. But again, that’s really kind of how it went down over the last week there with them," Venables said at his signing day press conference. "And I’ve even spoke to a few guys after they de-committed just to say, ‘Hey, you need to rethink this,’ and just try to help them and just to hopefully be another source that could bring a little clarity in a very difficult process for both the prospects and for the universities. I’ve not tried to continue to quote-unquote recruit guys. I’ve got my relationship with Coach Swinney. It goes so much further than the football field. He’s family to me. The rest of the staff there is family to me. 

"And so, again, I’ve got incredible respect and appreciation and thankfulness, and again, just trying to do things the right way. In this profession, [with] the pressure to win and to get players, I think people lose their way. And, for me, that’s always been an easy philosophy and value system to have, is just to do what’s right, and so I’ve tried to do that.”

Venables stated that while he was on the road recruiting for the Tigers, in the days leading up to him taking the job at OU, he did so with every intention of remaining with the Tigers and Dabo Swinney.

“Well, after I had initially been contacted, I did hit the road recruiting with every intention of being the defensive coordinator at Clemson, but trying to be upfront and honest in regards to my interests and some of the communication that had taken place," Venables said. "I think that’s just the way you do things, is try to be upfront and honest. To me, Clemson is an easy sell. That’s what I tried to do. There are so many reasons [to go there]. We don’t have time in this press conference to talk about what makes that place so great, but taking me out of the equation is what I’m talking about and what makes it so great. And so that was easy for me. 

"I’m, again, every bit as invested there at the time, in Clemson University and Coach [Dabo] Swinney, how good he’s been to me and our family. So I felt it was the very least I could do to try to continue to help Clemson through that time. And again, the speculation is important for me to get in front of them and continue in support of, again, both their opportunity their and, again, their future there. So, what was it like? You know, for me, there were a few de-commitments. That was hurtful for me. I know, one, the need that they have for those young guys. Clemson doesn’t just keep recruiting when they get a commitment. Some places just keep recruiting if they can get a better guy. They’ll address it down the road, and they might tell a guy, ‘Hey, we don’t have a spot for you,’ and guys are left without scholarships. And that’s not how Coach Swinney handles his business."