Brent Venables expected to be named Oklahoma head coach

Oklahoma was dealt a major blow last week when Lincoln Riley left to take the head coaching job at USC, but they might be replacing Riley with one of the most respected assistant coaches in college football.

Oklahoma is expected to name Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables their next head coach, ESPN’s Chris Low reports. The two sides are in the process of working out a deal and hope to have it finalized by Sunday.

Venables has spent the last 10 years as defensive coordinator under Dabo Swinney. He had associate head coach added to his title in 2018. The 50-year-old has been given a ton of credit for Clemson’s dominant run in recent years.

Venables also has deep ties to Oklahoma. He was an assistant coach there from 1999-2011 under former head coach Bob Stoops. He was co-defensive coordinator on the 2000 Sooners team that won the BCS National Championship.

Former Oklahoma players strongly endorsed Venables for the job this week. While the biggest rumor about the Sooners job involved a current NFL coach, Venables was viewed by many as the obvious choice.