Brent Venables Has Much to Consider, but His Oklahoma Coaching Staff is Taking Shape

Retaining current players, starting with QB Caleb Williams, is on the to-do list when considering hiring new coaches, but so is the Sooners' eventual move to the SEC.

There are, of course, questions about Brent Venables’ new staff at Oklahoma.

How plugged into the personal lives of 2022 and 2023 recruits is 57-year-old defensive coordinator Ted Roof? What did offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby learn about himself — and about other people who don’t play football — during the Baylor scandal? Who will be added next? Who will be retained?

And there are plenty more.

Joe Harroz, Brent Venables, Joe Castiglione :: Ryan Chapman / SI Sooners

But now, seven days out from his hire as the man to replace Lincoln Riley and build his own legacy, Oklahoma fans can see Venables’ plan for the staff begin to take shape.

Not necessarily the day-to-day stuff. Who coaches which position, who recruits which regions — Venables may have some ideas, but he will ultimately figure all that out as he goes.

“Obviously you prepare yourself for a long time, way before,” Venables said last week. “Every battle is won before it’s fought. You have that same kind of mindset when it comes to staffing.

“We’re working through that right now. The same with our current staff. There’s some terrific options right here at home. We’re looking at everything. Obviously we want to do it sooner rather than later. We’re working aggressively on both fronts.”

What Venables has done already in one week is clear: he’s added winners, he’s added success, he’s added accomplished, experienced coaches.

First, it’s important to remember that coaches, by nature, are transient. The 10 assistant coaches that Venables has on staff when the 2022 offseason begins aren’t necessarily the same ones he’ll have 12 months later. In reality, there may be changes before the 2022 football season even gets here.

Second, we must also note that Venables isn’t finished hiring. Unofficially, it’s widely assumed at this point that he’ll keep Bill Bedenbaugh, Cale Gundy, DeMarco Murray and Joe Jon Finley after the Alamo Bowl to work with Lebby on offense. After adding Roof, Brandon Hall and Miguel Chavis, Venables still has two more defensive positions to fill.

Cale Gundy :: John E. Hoover / SI Sooners

There are presumably assistant coaches currently in the College Football Playoff field that Venables is considering. Potential candidates on the staffs at Georgia and Alabama ought to be in his sights because of their recruiting ties in the South. That’s where OU will be playing its games soon, so that’s where the Sooners need to be taking players from. There may be others on the Clemson staff as well.

Venables does have pressing needs — one, to retain as many current players as possible; two, to hang onto the verbal commitments in the 2022 class (there are 12) after five recent decommitments) and to find some more ahead of Wednesday’s National Signing Day — and certainly before February.

That means hanging onto some current staffers. Colorado running back Gavin Sawchuk, for example, may want to play for Murray. Nebraska tight end Kaden Helms and Texas tight end Jason Llewellyn may want to play for Finley. Nevada offensive lineman Jake Taylor and Edmond offensive lineman Jacob Sexton have expressed deep admiration for Bedenbaugh.

It would be helpful, too, to bring back some of the five 2022s that decommitted since Riley left. One or two seem like they might be headed in that direction.

Caleb Williams :: DOUG HOKE/THE OKLAHOMAN-USA TODAY NETWORK

As for the incoming staffers, Lebby is clearly the biggest splash. His work with Dillon Gabriel at UCF and Matt Corral at Ole Miss — and those teams’ offensive production — make Lebby a home run hire.

(Also, while some will still have questions about Lebby’s involvement with the Baylor scandal — he’s Art Briles’ son-in-law, so there’s a toxicity by association — Sooner fans should ultimately trust that athletic director Joe Castiglione, who does all his business on the high road, did his homework, believes Lebby is clean and comes away satisfied with his own vetting process as well as those who examined Lebby and hired him in Orlando and Oxford.)

Getting a creative play-caller, a prolific coordinator and an accomplished QB coach is Venables’ first step in keeping Caleb Williams. If there’s a chance of that happening, Lebby was a crucial piece of the puzzle.

Roof was a surprise hire. He’s worked all over the country during his 35-year career, changing jobs, on average, about every 2-3 years. Roof coordinated the defense at Duke and became the Blue Devils’ head coach (his record was 4-44). But he’s also coordinated defenses at Auburn, where he helped win the national championship. He’s coached in the ACC, the Big Ten, the SEC and now the Big 12, as well as in Group of 5 conferences.

Roof knows defense, clearly. After spending 2021 as Clemson’s ’ defensive analyst, he knows Venables’ defense. And that’s his contribution at OU. Make no mistake, Oklahoma will run Venables’ defense, and the head coach will be heavily involved in game planning and strategy. But Roof will send in the signals on gameday.

Hall, too, has been around the coaching block. The OU grad got his start in 1998 in Norman as a student assistant and became a grad assistant and quality control coach under Venables on Bob Stoops’ staff from 2001-05. He also was on the defensive quality control staff at OU in 2011, Venables’ final season.

Hall has coached on the high school level, the small-college level, the Group of 5 level and the Power 5 level. He was most recently defensive coordinator at Troy (he joined the staff in 2018 and was promoted to DC in 2019). There’s also speculation that Venables could assign him a supervisory duty on special teams (the various teams would likely get shuffled among several position coaches, although one coach could coordinate them all).

Chavis is the least experienced of Venables’ hires (so far). The former Clemson defensive lineman played for the Tigers prior to Venables’ arrival (his final season was 2011, Venables got there in 2012), but he was added to Swinney’s staff in 2017 and has been in the role of defensive player development. He’s announced himself as the new defensive ends coach, and it’ll be interesting to see where Venables eventually assigns him in recruiting.

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