How might Brent Venables, Shane Beamer fit at Oklahoma? Quite well, columnist says
The college football coaching carousel is spinning at a record pace.
Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley stunned the sports world on Sunday when reports surfaced that he would depart Norman for the job at Southern Cal. With OU scrambling to find his replacement, Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables and South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer would make logical sense as top options, given their ties to the program.
Both Venables and Beamer have been linked to the Sooners opening by way of the various national lists predicting who could possibly replace Riley. Time will tell how serious the interest is between Oklahoma and either coach.
Venables was a defensive coordinator for former Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops from 1999 to 2011 before he was hired at Clemson. Beamer spent three years on Riley’s staff before landing the South Carolina job.
Longtime Oklahoman sports columnist Berry Tramel spoke with The State on both Venables’ and Beamer’s potential candidacies at OU.
These responses have been edited for clarity and length.
Ben Portnoy: How would you characterize the last 48 hours in Norman?
Berry Tramel: “Oh, geez. It’s about as crazy as it’s ever gotten. Thirty seconds left in the (Oklahoma-Oklahoma State) game and you’re you’re still a College Football Playoff contender. Caleb Williams runs into the open field and looks like he might score the most improbable touchdown ever. He runs out of gas and OSU stops them. (Oklahoma) loses Bedlam and 14 hours later, 15 hours later, word starts circulating that Lincoln Riley’s going to USC. It was a double gut punch.
But now as everybody can see, chaos is not just here in Oklahoma. It’s everyone. Something’s in the water everywhere. Misery loves company, I guess.”
BP: Starting with Brent Venables, how do folks in Norman view his tenure and how’s he thought of these days in OU circles?
BT: “Venables was beloved for many years and then he sort of made a scapegoat among the fans. When things started sliding a little bit in (2009, 2010, 2011) fans quickly forgot how good his 2009 defense was. It was a great defense. Golly, in the 22, 23 years of the house of (Bob) Stoops, it’s the second best OU defense, I’d say, behind the (2001) defense and 2000 defense — the year they won (the national title) it was really good, too.
But anyway, people quickly forgot and Bob was trying to rekindle the magic, so he brings Mike (Stoops) back and had some sort of consortium with Brent. And that was pretty clear that wasn’t going to work very well. Within a few days or weeks — I can’t remember the timeline — (Dabo) Swinney called him and away he went.
People over the years sort of realized what they had in Brent, (like) the (2009) defense, and what he did at Clemson. So he sort of returned to being a folk hero.
Administrators always thought very highly. He was considered one of the members of the Stoops family and very well thought of — that never changed. No problems ever that I knew about, anybody ever complaining about Brent Venables. Just sort of the highest respect that somebody could have.”
BP: Same thing on Shane, how did folks view his tenure and what was the vibe around him during his time in Norman?
BT: “Now on Beamer, the fans really never got to know him much. They don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other, I don’t think.
... I don’t know what your experience is, but he’s one of the most classy, friendly guys I’ve ever come across in college football. Top of the line.
To give you an example, I met him at a (Oklahoma City) Thunder game. He came up and introduced himself to me. So what college football coach does that? He’s just top-notch.
I’ve never really been around Frank Beamer — I just read stuff — but that’s what everybody’s always said about Frank that he’s a sort of a normal person. ... And Shane was that way.
I got to sort of studying Shane and he just had all the intangibles. Didn’t surprise me at all when South Carolina came calling. I have said this in the last 24 hours: If Shane had not taken the Gamecocks job — he’s still on the staff (at Oklahoma) — I think he’d be the head coach at OU right now. I think they would have elevated him just immediately. I think everybody had that experience with him — just top of the line.”
BP: Brent’s candidacy for head coaching jobs all over is well-documented. Why — if it is the case — would this be a gig he might be interested in actually chasing?
BT: “I don’t know what’s kept him from taking a good one. I got to believe he’s been offered all kinds of good ones before. I assume Kansas State’s offered him both times Bill Snyder retired, but I don’t know that. I don’t know why he hasn’t taken one and I don’t know why this would be any different.
It’s probably the best job he’s ever been offered. It’s one of the top five or six jobs in college football, so I assume Alabama and USC and Notre Dame haven’t offered him. I’m not really speaking from Brent’s perspective, I’m just speaking from my views. I think he’d be very high on OU’s list for all the reasons we’ve talked about.
And just be honest with you, nobody really realized this until the last 36 hours, but the (Bob) Stoops legacy has had a major revival. Just within the last 24 hours really, because Stoops came in as the interim coach and his press conference yesterday displaying a brash of confidence and stability. Just made everybody feel better. If they hired somebody with Stoops connections, people would think that was pretty cool.
Stoops and the Stoops family and Brent go back so far. I mean, it’s now 30 years they go back together. And even though they had that sort of a difficult time when (Bob Stoops) brings Mike (Stoops) back and Brent left, I don’t know if there were hard feelings or if it was just awkwardness. I don’t know how to describe what was going on, but I know whatever it was they’re well past it.”
BP: How important is head coaching track record given both Venables and Beamer only have one year of head coaching experience between them?
BT: “That matters zero at Oklahoma. ... One coach since 1935 had ever been a head coach before. In fact, some people would say, you’d be nuts to go chase the hottest name: (Cincinnati’s) Luke Fickell or (Baylor’s) Dave Aranda or (Iowa State’s) Matt Campbell, (Kentucky’s) Mark Stoops.
Most of that time the best hires have come from within, just promote. (Barry) Switzer was promoted. Lincoln Riley was promoted. Chuck Fairbanks was promoted. Bud Wilkinson was promoted. ... So that that doesn’t really matter. Some of the fans don’t really know that ... but they get it almost immediately.
I think (Oklahoma) won’t limit themselves to assistant coaches, but they will not at all be swayed by trying to win the press conference or win the social media reaction. They don’t they believe they need to go hire (former Notre Dame head coach and new LSU head coach) Brian Kelly to keep being good football.”
This story was originally published November 30, 2021 at 1:22 PM.
