Brent Venables... DC Stats 2004-2014

Brent Venables, arguably one of the top choices in the LSU DC race is worth taking a look at. Brent was co-DC at Oklahoma from 1999-2003 (the year LSU beat them in the MNC game - and arguably had a great defense) but I only pulled the statistical conference rankings from his teams when he was the sole DC. Here they are....

Clemson Years:

2014
Scoring D - 1
Rush D - 3
Pass D - 1
Total D - 1

2013
Scoring D - 4
Rush D - 7
Pass D - 4
Total D - 4

2012
Scoring D - 6
Rush D - 10
Pass D - 9
Total D - 6

Oklahoma Years:

2011
Scoring D - 1
Rush D - 5
Pass D - 4
Total D - 2

2010
Scoring D - 3
Rush D - 5
Pass D - 4
Total D - 4

2009
Scoring D - 2
Rush D - 2
Pass D - 3
Total D - 3

2008
Scoring D - 2
Rush D - 2
Pass D - 5
Total D - 3

2007
Scoring D - 2
Rush D - 3
Pass D - 3
Total D - 2

2006
Scoring D - 1
Rush D - 2
Pass D - 3
Total D - 1

2005
Scoring D - 6
Rush D - 2
Pass D - 5
Total D - 3

2004
Scoring D - 1
Rush D - 1
Pass D - 5
Total D - 1

My overall thoughts....

Pretty solid and very consistent defenses in some pretty strong offensive conferences. He did a top notch job turning around a terrible Clemson defense (from Kevin Steele ). His years in Oklahoma were very consistent but did seem to fall off slightly in his last two years. Possible burn-out, the need for a change of scenery, or the need for a new challenge could have been in play. Whatever the reason, he's made steady measurable progress in the other Death Valley.

Right now, I would list Venables as a proven, homerun, on the spot hire.

Note - for whatever reason ACC football stats are unreasonably difficult to come by (at least on an iPad), so Scoring D and Total D received the same place as I could not find a statistic for Total D, only Scoring D.