How Brent Venables’ Recruiting Perspective Has Changed as a Head Coach

He used to relish setting the head coach up for slam dunks, but now he's the one who comes in and finishes the deal.

Whether it’s hosting Junior Day on the Oklahoma campus like he’ll do next weekend, or skyhopping from one hamlet to the next to visit recruits in their homes and schools like he did in January, or helping organize what official visits will look like later this year, new coach Brent Venables is enjoying his new perspective as a college football recruiter.

He’s always been good at it as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator. Now, though, he’s the man in charge.

And yes, there’s a fundamental difference.

Brent Venables :: SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN -USA TODAY NETWORK

“Probably the biggest thing,” Venables said, “and I've always been with head coaches (in) coach (Bob) Stoops and coach (Dabo) Swinney … two guys that, you go into the house and everybody's talking and adding to the conversation.

“I think coach (Bill) Snyder — and there's probably some other coaches like that — where you go in and you don't say a whole lot of anything (as an assistant) except for introductions, and then you just sit back and let them have at it. But, you've got to be ready. You've got to always be on.”

While it’s the assistant coaches and the relationships they build over time that form the backbone of recruiting, many times it’s the head coaches who are the closers. They wow the parents, they impress the recruits, they say all the right things, and then they get that commitment.

Now Venables is the closer.

“In the past,” Venables said “ … if I’ve taken a head coach in there, I try to set him up for alley-oops and then he goes and finishes it. It's kind of the other way around. But to me, as a head coach, you’ve got to assume that you're on your own.”

Venables easily wins over recruits and their families with his charm and warm personality. But it takes a lot more than that to be an effective college football recruiter.

“You're selling dreams, you're selling a vision, you're selling a place, you're selling people,” Venables said. “And I've been at some amazing places with incredible people, fabulous history and tradition, so my job's been pretty easy.”

Easy to an extent, he said.

“Now, I'll say this,” Venables said. “People say, ‘Oh, anybody could recruit for Oklahoma,’ or ‘Anybody could recruit for Clemson.’ Yep. But guess what? We're not recruiting against a bunch of nobodies. We're recruiting against really good (programs) that also have excellent people, and great places to live, and certainly tradition and history of success, and amazing community.

“But I love it. I love every single part of it because when you're convicted — that's one reason why I didn't take a head job. Because there are not many of them that get me excited. I'll just be honest. Whether it's where to live, the vision that you're selling — I didn't want to be disingenuous. I could name some places, but it would rub some people wrong. I'm like, ‘Man, I wouldn't want to live there.’

“And so for me, it's always been easy (to stay an assistant coach) because I've lived in some amazing places, worked at just some tremendous universities with great people. So that's an easy sell.”