How former K-State coach Bill Snyder influenced Brent Venables’ journey to Oklahoma

More than 30 years have passed since Brent Venables played his final game as a linebacker at Kansas State, but you wouldn’t know it based on the way he talks about his former coach.

Bill Snyder continues to have a strong influence on Venables. So much so, that Venables credited the retired K-State football coach for guiding him to Oklahoma this past offseason.

Venables has the reputation of a notoriously picky coach. He started out as an assistant at K-State, spent 12 years working with Bob Stoops at Oklahoma and then became one of the highest-paid coordinators in the nation as a member of Dabo Swinney’s staff at Clemson. Venables had many opportunities to become a head coach over the years, but he turned them all down until now.

Why? Because of some good advice from Snyder.

“I learned a long time ago from from Bill Snyder that the grass isn’t greener,” Venables said at Big 12 Media Days this week. “I have always believed that. He said it to me and I believed it so much that I wrote it down. It was even in my coaching Bible.

“I’ve never learned how to be great in two places at one time. To be great as a football player, you have got to have your feet underneath your hips, right? You can’t have your feet way outside your shoulder pads. To be great in any profession, I believe wholeheartedly you need to try to be great where you’re at. So I’ve just been very loyal and patient.”

Snyder took a similar approach to coaching jobs after he was hired at K-State in 1989.

Other colleges, and some NFL teams, tried to lure him away from Manhattan as Snyder breathed life into K-State football and transformed the Wildcats into consistent winners. In his latest book, he revealed that Arkansas, UCLA and one NFL team offered him jobs. Many other places expressed interest. But he never reciprocated it.

Like he told Venables, he didn’t think the grass was greener anywhere else. His choice ultimately led him to 215 victories, 19 bowl games, two conference championships and one spot in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Venables’ two other primary coaching mentors were also loyal. Stoops stayed at Oklahoma for 17 seasons. Swinney has been at Clemson since 2009.

Many have asked why it took Venables so long to make the leap to head coach. He simply wasn’t in any rush.

Venables was happy and winning where he was as a coordinator. Why leave unless an opportunity came up that he couldn’t refuse?

“I just try to be very thankful and appreciative of the opportunities that I have,” Venables said. “I’m loyal to my players, loyal to my colleagues, loyal to the people that have believed in me, and that has served me well through my career on countless opportunities.”

It wasn’t a hard decision for Venables to leave Clemson for Oklahoma, because it felt like his dream job. He has history there and his children were born in Norman. The Sooners are also one of the biggest brands in all of college football.

Still, he ran the job by Snyder when he was offered last winter. He got the thumbs up and took the gig.

His former coach remains a guiding force in his professional life.

“As I told Coach Snyder, I wanted an opportunity to coach at a place like Oklahoma,” Venables said. “It’s a special place.”