He was a good position coach at OU...but the defense had consistently declined since he had taken over. They did try to keep him for his recruiting and position coaching, but he was being "demoted" if not in title then in responsibility. Agree that Brooks was as much the reason for Clemson's defensive success recently as anyone. Clemson was pretty fortunate to snag him up. Same with Caldwell.
Cuff me officer, I admit I joined this site because I'm biased towards the Gamecocks.
Cuff me officer, I admit I joined this site because I'm biased towards the Gamecocks.
Best defenses Carolina has played for the past 2 years, regardless of conference... made the offense look pathetic.
Name one DC that is better than Venables? Not someone that is currently an HC! Impress me and name 2? I bet you can't do it! Look at the statistics for last 4-5yrs. Look at the number of Starters and Juniors that left for NFL or transferred during that time and he had to reload. I'm not saying he is the best but I guarantee 118-120 D1 schools wishes he was on their staff.
That's an idiotic limitation....all the good ones get HC offers. Either BV isn't deemed good enough as those who have gotten HC offers or he's too scared to take the helm. BTW, Va Tech's Bud Foster is better.
I beg to differ on Bud Foster! According to you all the good ones are HC? Why didn't he get the VT job especially after the HC-IN-WAITING job? He has never stopped a quality quarterback. That is why they lost every New Year's Six bowl game! I like Foster but he isn't same level as BV.
Also forces you to leave off Barry Odom, Jeremy Pruitt, Mark Dantonio, etc. Bud Foster has consistently put out good defenses year after year for a good bit longer than BV. Foster may not be the recruiter that BV is, but IMO he's every bit the coach. His problem was that he would never leave VaTech and people quit asking. Same will happen to BV if he keeps turning down jobs.
Greg Shiano, Manny Diaz, and the Stoop brothers. And, of course, Ellis Johnson.
Kevin Steele? The one Clemson fired before bringing in Venables? The one whose defense gave up 70 to WV? You shot yourself in the foot with that answer.
Kevin Steele was fired by Dabo for the Orange Bowl thrashing they took from WVU. There is no way you can put Kevin above Vegetables!
But he improved Clemson's defense every year he was there...and has been very successful everywhere else he has been. He was the scapegoat for that WVU game...which was just poor preparation by the whole staff and completely exposed the limitations of Clemson's emphasis on recruiting offensive skill position players to the exclusion of everything else. Their recruiting philosophy changed a bit after that season.
C'mon? I usually agree with most your posts Rogue but I can't let you pass on this Steele comment. He has been at 3 or 3+ schools since Clemson, he wasn't even a DC for a couple of those yrs. If he is so great why has he been tossed around the SEC almost every year since Clemson? He don't hold water for BV. Clemson beat him everytime he has played them since being fired which his replacement is the thread headliner.
I just see him as an above average coach with great players. Just don't think he can take average players and build a competent defense. Think he was very lucky to have Brooks and Hobby on the staff.
They don't pay a "get back guy". He's asistant strength and conditioning coach who does the get back duties on game day. I will pull venebles back on the weekends for 150k a year.
I saw a clip on ESPN last year that showed coaches that had "get back guys". I think there were like 8 of them all DCs except one OC. But the only school I recall was the DC from FSU. So it's a little more common than I expected.
BV couldn't get it done at OU. They consistently got worse when he was DC. IIRC they also improved when Mark Stoops took back over.
