https://247sports.com/college/oklaho...les-186763233/ Thank you Paul.
Paul Finebaum is holding back from rave reviews associated with Oklahoma's hire of Brent Venables entering his first season with the Sooners. Monday on Finebaum's show, he tempered expectations a bit if the baseline is annual top finishes in the thick of the College Football Playoff picture.
"Remember, we went through that for a long time — there's always the next," Finebaum said. "There was the next (Bear) Bryant and then there was the next (Nick) Saban, and now Venables is the new guy. He has never won a game as a head coach, but he's the closest thing to Nick Saban we've ever seen. ... Does anyone agree with that out there?"
A former Broyles Award winner at Clemson as one of the nation's top coordinators and recruiters, Venables inherits a blue-blood program accustomed to winning that didn't miss a beat under Lincoln Riley's five-year stint following the departure of program legend Bob Stoops.
His team is ranked inside the top 15 of most way-too-early polls and returns a talent group on both sides of the football, despite transfer portal casualties.
And now, Venables is tasked with maintaining that level of success at the winningest program in Big 12 history.
"Brent Venables — who has been for many, many years the defensive coordinator at Clemson, he was at Oklahoma prior to that — until a year or two ago, I never really heard this guy's name mentioned for a head-coaching position," Finebaum said. "He looked like a lifer. He looked like one of these defensive coordinators, and there are many in history — Bud Foster at Virginia Tech, who spent most of his career with (Frank) Beamer. You've had other DCs — Bill Oliver, for example, who was Bear Bryant's and many other coaches' defensive coordinators.
"But I don't know Brent Venables that well, and I'm not about to say he will be a bust at Oklahoma, but I just get a little bit weary of, 'Oh, he's the next (Saban). He's the closest.' I already thought Billy Napier was the next Saban after what we heard the other day, all the people that say he does everything just like Saban. Who else has done everything else just like Saban?"
Reaction to Venables' hire at Oklahoma was extremely positive and he was able to stick a band-aid on several personnel departures by reaching into the transfer portal early on to fill holes. However, Finebaum has his reservations about Oklahoma's success, at least during the 2022 season and Venables' ranking among college football's other elite coaches.
"I think there's every reason to think he can be successful, although most of his best players went off to Southern Cal," Finebaum said. "... I don't know how you could look at him in the same breath as Kirby Smart right now."
"Remember, we went through that for a long time — there's always the next," Finebaum said. "There was the next (Bear) Bryant and then there was the next (Nick) Saban, and now Venables is the new guy. He has never won a game as a head coach, but he's the closest thing to Nick Saban we've ever seen. ... Does anyone agree with that out there?"
A former Broyles Award winner at Clemson as one of the nation's top coordinators and recruiters, Venables inherits a blue-blood program accustomed to winning that didn't miss a beat under Lincoln Riley's five-year stint following the departure of program legend Bob Stoops.
His team is ranked inside the top 15 of most way-too-early polls and returns a talent group on both sides of the football, despite transfer portal casualties.
And now, Venables is tasked with maintaining that level of success at the winningest program in Big 12 history.
"Brent Venables — who has been for many, many years the defensive coordinator at Clemson, he was at Oklahoma prior to that — until a year or two ago, I never really heard this guy's name mentioned for a head-coaching position," Finebaum said. "He looked like a lifer. He looked like one of these defensive coordinators, and there are many in history — Bud Foster at Virginia Tech, who spent most of his career with (Frank) Beamer. You've had other DCs — Bill Oliver, for example, who was Bear Bryant's and many other coaches' defensive coordinators.
"But I don't know Brent Venables that well, and I'm not about to say he will be a bust at Oklahoma, but I just get a little bit weary of, 'Oh, he's the next (Saban). He's the closest.' I already thought Billy Napier was the next Saban after what we heard the other day, all the people that say he does everything just like Saban. Who else has done everything else just like Saban?"
Reaction to Venables' hire at Oklahoma was extremely positive and he was able to stick a band-aid on several personnel departures by reaching into the transfer portal early on to fill holes. However, Finebaum has his reservations about Oklahoma's success, at least during the 2022 season and Venables' ranking among college football's other elite coaches.
"I think there's every reason to think he can be successful, although most of his best players went off to Southern Cal," Finebaum said. "... I don't know how you could look at him in the same breath as Kirby Smart right now."
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