New defensive hires put Venables, Sooners, right back where they've been
Is Jim Knowles the nation's highest paid defensive coordinator at $3.1 million or is it the Sooner head coach, at more than $8 million?
I like Brent Venables. I always have and I still do.
As a young sportswriter covering the Sooners, he was generous in ways I’ve always appreciated and not forgotten.
No rooting in the press box, but all things being equal, I’d rather he be a successful head coach than a failed one.
Yet, all of that said, the way he’s going about it doesn’t make sense, offers little confidence and remains sub-optimal even if it works.
Venables, as you may know, hired two new defensive assistants over the weekend:
Nate Dreiling, who spent about a month at Arkansas State after spending a season as defensive coordinator and interim head coach at Utah State, as linebackers coach; Wes Goodwin, who succeeded Venables as Clemson defensive coordinator, as assistant linebackers coach in charge of outside linebackers.
If you struggle with the silliness of assistant coaching titles, you’re not alone.
Given that description, you may notice something.
No matter how much the Sooners would have you believe Todd Bates and Jai Valai remain co-defensive coordinators, the same titles they held even before Zac Alley departed after one season, Oklahoma still has no actual defensive coordinator.
Well, unless …
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