Brent Venables handles interviews like he coaches — at full speed.

The former Salina South High School standout and current second-year head coach at the University of Oklahoma molds passion, intensity and motivation into an electric ball of energy that seems to have no off switch.

If there was ever the need for a get-back coach in an interview room, 52-year-old Thomas Brent Venables would be the reason. His style has produced success at the highest levels of college football.

Prior to being named Oklahoma’s 23rd head coach on Dec. 5, 2021, Venables was the most successful defensive coordinator in college football. He was part of three national championships — one at Oklahoma (2000) and two at Clemson (2016, 2018) and was paid accordingly.

Venables is currently in the second year of a six-year, $43.5 million contract at Oklahoma as he sets his sights on the Sooners’ final season in the Big 12 Conference before the school heads to the rugged SEC in 2024.

Venables sat down in late June with The Magazine for what was scheduled to be a 30-minute interview at his Memorial Stadium office in Norman, Okla. Nearly 90 minutes later, the interview wrapped up as Venables touched on a variety of subjects, including his dysfunctional upbringing in Salina, his time as a player and coach at Kansas State, his time as an assistant at Oklahoma and Clemson and his roller-coaster first season as the OU head coach.

Venables was born in Homestead, Fla., on Dec. 18, 1970. His biological father, Ron, was in the Air Force, but left the family when Brent was two years old. His mother, Nancy Schumaker, requested a transfer to an Air Force base close to her family in the Midwest. So, mom and sons Kirk, Ken and Brent soon found a home in Salina on Marvin Avenue.

Home life was not always a good one for the family. Four different stepdads led to domestic abuse, verbal abuse and alcoholism.

“Four stepdads ... yeah, four,” Venables said. “It was kind of messy.”

It was a rough-and-tumble childhood. The police were called more than once.

Despite the struggles, Venables said his mother was an inspiration to him. She eventually earned a bachelor’s degree and became a nurse.

She died of cancer in 2005 at the age of 58. Six years later, his older brother Kirk passed away from a seizure after struggling with alcoholism for many years.

Venables and his wife Julie recently celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary.

They have four children — sons Jake and Tyler and daughters Laney and Addie.

“I’ve got an amazing wife, first of all, in Julie,” Venables said. “She’s not needy.

Coach’s wives can’t be needy, and she’s not. Just because you’re a dad doesn’t make you a dad. Just because you’re standing in the middle of a garage doesn’t make you a car. Just because you’re standing in a classroom doesn’t make you a student.

You’ve got to earn what it is to be a dad. You’ve got to be present; you’ve got to be strong and supportive, help give them tools and listen.

“I look at the mess I grew up in and it helped create a message for me on how I wanted to be as a dad.”

Growing up with his two older brothers, Venables understood first-hand the financial struggles his mother faced. Sports became his sanctuary.

“The first time I ever heard a man say ‘I love you’ was from a football coach,” Venables said. “In every experience I had with sports teams, whether it was baseball, soccer, football, man I just had some really strong men help me. They just had juice and energy and they believed in me and poured in seeds of encouragement.

They planted the seeds to chase my dream, to go to college and play football.”

Venables played football at Salina South High School, finishing his senior season in 1988 as an all-area performer, racking up 109 tackles and rushing for 453 yards.

He was selected to play in the Kansas Shrine Bowl.

Venables visited with Kansas and Kansas State, but neither offered a scholarship, so he began his college career at Garden City Community College.

Venables piled up 276 tackles in two seasons at GCCC, leading the team in tackles his sophomore year.

He eventually walked on at Kansas State with the understanding that he would receive a scholarship after his first season.

When he arrived at K-State, Venables saw there were nearly 20 linebackers on the roster, but moved up to No. 2 on the depth chart by the start of the 1991 season. The rest, as they say, is history. He played two seasons for the Wildcats, then joined the coaching staff in 1993 as a grad assistant. He was the linebackers coach at KSU from 1996-98 before joining the Oklahoma coaching staff in 1999. He was there for 13 seasons before becoming the defensive coordinator at Clemson in 2012.

Ten years later, he was named the head coach at Oklahoma.

Venables: “My mom did the best she could. She graduated from high school and immediately got married. She was 18. She was the only one in her family who didn’t go on to get a college degree. She came from a very educated family. Eventually she got a $400-a-month check from my dad, but that was it. It never changed, even though the cost of living rose, it never did.

“When you’re coming from a home that struggles weekto- week, as a young person you find out early the value of a dollar and that it actually cost money to turn the water on, keep the electricity on, have the cable going. You look forward to those different dates, once a month.

“My grandparents would send a check in the mail every now and then that said, ‘No booze, no cigs’ on the outside of the envelope. I thought it was funny when I was young and I’m making light of it now, but I can imagine my mom didn’t love it, but she made light of it, too. We were on government assistance, so I knew at a young age what food stamps were and knew my friends weren’t on it, so I was kind of embarrassed. But I never needed for anything. My mom, somehow, some way, always made us the priority as kids. I just remember she wanted us to have fun and have what we needed as young kids. She did the best she could.

“So, I learned at a young age. We would talk about ‘why are you letting these men stay in our lives’ and the alcoholism, domestic abuse and verbal abuse that came with it. The thing that resonated with me is when she would say, ‘I don’t have a degree, I didn’t go to college.

We need money to pay the bills.’ I remember running to the street to get the paper — I was going to help her find a job — and almost every job opening it read ‘experience

“The first time I ever heard a man say ‘I love you’ was from a football coach. In every experience I had with sports teams, whether it was baseball, soccer, football, man I just had some really strong men help me. They planted the seeds to chase my dream, to go to college and play football.”

Brent Venables

Head Coach, University of Oklahoma needed, bachelor degree required’ over and over and over again. It was just a dead end.

“So, when she eventually got a bachelor’s degree in nursing when I was in college, it was one of the most amazing moments for me as a young person, just to see her fight and believe. I learned the value of education.”

The Magazine: “Talk about your time at Kansas State as a player and coach and how important it was to your career.”

Venables: “As a young kid, I went to some college football games with Eric Clayton’s family. His dad was a big K-State fan and I always liked the color purple. You didn’t know what you didn’t know — one of the losingest programs in the history of college football, but I never saw them that way. I did know when Coach Snyder got there, they were trying to build something the right way, so it was so cool for me to end up going to Kansas State. Hopefully, I had a sense of appreciation for my opportunity and I made the most of it by trying to out-think, out-work, outcompete and keeping things simple.

“I had an intense desire to prove myself. I wasn’t trying to be anybody’s friend, but I will say this — my mom always told me to find people having success and doing things the right way and then surround yourself with them. For me, I saw Kansas State as stability; for me it was like a home. I found father figures, I found stability, I found consistency. It was a healthy environment and so again, I used all the things I didn’t have from my own home life and I found them at Kansas State. When I got there, I was going to outwork people, bring positive

energy to every environment.”

The Magazine: “Was the coaching profession always a goal of yours?” Venables: “Actually, I wanted to go into law. I wanted to be a lawyer, but after my playing career was over, Coach (Mike) Stoops asked me if I’d be interested in being a GA (graduate assistant). I fell in love with that right away. We met at 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. sharp, every day. I loved it. I loved my coaches — ( Jim) Leavitt, (Bob and Mike) Stoops, (Mo) Latimore, (Mark) Mangino and so many other great men.

“Coach Leavitt then got hired to start the University of South Florida football program. He told me, ‘Hey, I got a job for you. I can’t pay you, but I can put you in the dorms and I can feed you.’ I said, ‘All right, this is great. When are we going?’ He said, ‘But first, you need to try and get the linebacker job here at K-State.’

“So, Coach Snyder is going through about 6,000 resumes, and he’s very thorough in case you didn’t know (laughing). He’s going to take his time. It seemed like a year — dog years — but just six months, and he was still going through all those resumes. Every couple days I’d go down there and knock on his door — I was told I had to be persistent — and say, ‘Hey coach, just wanted to let you know I’m still interested.’

“He eventually tells me, ‘I’m going to hire you on an interim basis and keep you on the GA pay.’ So, I finally got the job and was paid $33,000 my first year. Mike Stoops asked me how much I was getting paid, I told him and he says, ‘That’s it!’ He was mad. He was going down the hallway to straighten things out with Coach Snyder. I said, ‘No, don’t, you’re going to screw this up for me.’ I was making more money than my mom ever made. This was amazing, but he said, ‘That’s robbery.’ He was going to go fight for me.

“While I was a GA, I actually lived with (Stoops) for a year, rent-free. He’d give you the shirt off his back if you needed it.”

The Magazine: “You worked for three of the greatest college football coaches of this generation — Bill Snyder, Bob Stoops and Dabo Swinney. What did you learn from each?” Venables: “I learned so much from Coach Snyder at Kansas State — hard work, persistence, discipline, accountability and that no detail is too small. It’s like when we were trying to close the gap with Nebraska, one of the most storied and tradition-rich

history of college football.

Then, you think about Kansas State, which is arguably what Bill Snyder did — the biggest turnaround in the history of college football.

We were infatuated with Nebraska. How we could close the gap, how do we find the smallest thing to make a difference in beating Nebraska, because they were such a machine and they did things so well — their execution, their discipline, their physicality. Eventually, in 1998, we closed the gap and overcame the giant (winning 40-30 over the Huskers for the first time in 30 years).

That might have been the biggest win I’ve ever been part of.

“With Coach Stoops at Oklahoma, it was how to overcome entitlement and handling the big stage. We had to turn this place around, because it was a dysfunctional mess. I had just left one of the most amazing locker-rooms in college football at Kansas State, to a locker-room that was dysfunctional. The pride was lost at the university, the buildings were messy and people just didn’t have the same sense of pride.

There were some tough days ahead.

“What I learned from Coach Stoops was a toughness, go-for-broke mindset.

The confidence that he exuded — trust your instincts and don’t worry about being criticized when you make decisions. Family was tremendously important to Coach Stoops. Many of the same qualities that Bill Snyder had, but his delivery was different as we all know, it goes without saying.

“I soon learned at Clemson there were many parallels between Coach Swinney and myself. He was very open about how he grew up, with alcoholism and domestic abuse. He had to earn his way on at Alabama. He just helped me in so many ways to continue to transform and develop. I still didn’t talk about my upbringing when I got there. I was still guarded about it and in many ways, still scarred by it internally, I guess is the best way to say it. But it freed me up later.

“Coach Stoops didn’t want me to leave. I was the highest paid assistant in the conference at the time, but sometimes you just need a change and sometimes it’s just out of your control and I knew this one was. It was an amazing decade there. I woke up every day with a renewed passion, energy and appreciation for not only where I was but who I was doing it with.

Coach Swinney is very unique in a lot of ways. He’s a very connected leader, super relational and inspirational. He had an upbringing that was similar to mine.

That wasn’t an accident, that was a God link.”

The Magazine: “Your first year at Oklahoma obviously didn’t go as many expected (a 6-7 record and seventh place finish in the Big 12). Does that serve as motivation?” Venables: “I don’t think the result was what anybody wanted as a competitor, but in many ways, it went exactly how it was supposed to go.

Now, that isn’t very popular to say, but in many ways, it takes what it takes to do what we’re trying to do.

People can say, ‘Well, it’s Oklahoma and they went 6-7, and the year before we won 11 games.’ I get that.

That’s fair; that’s on the surface. But there’s a lot of other stuff that’s going on behind the scenes that we needed to fix to have the longevity and stability that we desire.

That’s doing things the right way; investing in these kids the right way; producing great men, but also holding up championship trophies is part of it, too.

“We just didn’t all of a sudden overnight become bad on defense. You’re just not going to all of a sudden flip everything to your standards. My job is to constantly rehearse my beliefs and create an environment that emulates that and recruit people and hire people who believe in things I believe in.

“I gave guys 12 months or so of grace. We’ve gone through quite the transformation, both initially when we lost 16 guys to the (transfer) portal and then several guys to the NFL Draft. And, after this last season, we had several guys who went early to the NFL Draft and had some good conversations helping guys get a fresh start after 12, 13, 14 months of grace — go to class, live right off the field and show up here with an appreciation for your opportunity. You can’t go 0 for 3 in those three for 12-plus months and think this is going to work.

“That’s all part of the rebuilding, but everywhere I’ve been there’s been somewhat of a rebuilding, even at Clemson. It can never happen fast enough, but you have to do it the right way.

There’s no corner cutting.”

The Magazine: “What are your thoughts on this being the final season for Oklahoma in the Big 12 Conference?” Venables: “It’s crazy because I remember coaching in the very first Big 12 game against Texas Tech (in 1996). There have been a lot of great memories, but my biggest moment of failure or wish I could go back and change would be that 1998 (Big 12 title) game when we lost that fourth quarter lead (36-33 double overtime loss to Texas A&M).

“It’s so disappointing because of all those people at Kansas State and the history of that program. It was right there; we were so amazingly close. It was one of the best teams I’ve ever been part of and going to the natty

“I learned so much from Coach Snyder at Kansas State — hard work, persistence, discipline, accountability and that no detail is too small....With Coach Stoops at Oklahoma, it was how to overcome entitlement and handling the big stage.”

Brent Venables

1989 Salina South High School graduate (national championship game) — well, to me, we would have boat-raced (quarterback) Tee Martin and Tennessee. I believe that.

CHALLENGE Continued from Page 23

“It was such a moment of disappointment, just thinking of all those people it would have affected — past, present and future. It’s so hard to get there in the first place, and to be so close and not being able to close the deal was so disappointing.”

The Magazine:“How big a challenge will it be moving to the SEC?” Venables: “First of all, do you know how hard it is to just win a game? There’s nothing easy about it.

Sometimes we make it look easy, but it isn’t. If you want to change, grow and progress, there’s got to be challenges. You don’t progress and become better when things are easy. The stress and challenge is what makes you get better. Nothing ever stays the same, and (the move to the SEC) is a big one.

“Some might say, ‘Oh my God, the SEC!’ Come on man, Oklahoma stands on its own two feet. This is a program that takes a back seat to nobody, but just being successful is hard.

(The SEC) has incredible competitive depth. It’s going to take everybody.

Everything matters. The margin for error is always small, and it will be in that

conference.”

The Magazine: “Here’s a simple generic question, but what’s it like being the head coach at one of college football’s

most tradition-rich programs?”

Venables: “First of all, I was not looking to leave (Clemson) in any way. In my whole career, I’ve never asked for a raise, I never asked for a title. I was raised that way. My mom always told me, ‘You don’t expect anything. Keep your head down and work.’

“We had been in some pretty deep talks with Auburn, and I decided to stay. My wife goes, ‘Well OK.’ — she had to say her two cents worth — ‘All right, you know these other jobs,’ and she went down the list, ‘They aren’t what you just turned down, I just want to let you know, and that’s probably not going to come back again.’ And I was good with that.

“Then a couple months later, I got a text from a buddy that read, ‘Riley to USC?’ My first thought was it was crazy — why the hell would he go to Southern Cal? Oklahoma is not a stepping stone for anybody. Yeah, that ain’t happening. That is literally what I thought. A few hours later, I got a call from (OU athletic director) Joe Castiglione.

“This is a dream job. As an assistant, I certainly never dreamt an opportunity like this would happen to me.

These jobs just don’t fall out of the sky. So many things have to go just right.”

certainly never dreamt an opportunity like this would happen to me. These jobs just don’t fall out of the sky. So many things have to go just right.”

Brent Venables

Head Coach, University of Oklahoma