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Oklahoma's Brent Venables: Don't let people walk in your mind with dirty feet
There are moments of frustration and moments of humor almost weekly on the Southeastern Conference's coaches' Zoom.
Rarely, however, is there a window into the soul of coaching such as what Brent Venables peeled back Wednesday.
Initially discussing the difficulties in navigating the psyche of young players, especially at the quarterback position, Venables also offered a view into his holistic approach amidst a season of struggles at Oklahoma.
"You’re relentless. You rehearse, you reemphasize and you reinforce, speak out loud in front of the team every single day, about our standards," said Venables, the heralded former Broyles Award winner as Clemson defensive coordinator now in his third season atop the Sooners program. "How to think the right way, how we compete, how we prepare, buying into the process and whether you’re having great success and victory or you’re in the mud, you’ve got to handle it all the exact same.
"So, don’t find value and worth in other peoples’ applause because you’ll really suffer when they’re throwing rocks at you. If people on the outside of frustrated, you can imagine the determination, the things that we’re going through inside the walls."
Oklahoma, which has bounced between opening day starting quarterback Jackson Arnold and backup Gentry Williams, suffered losses in its last three games to sit 4-4 with four games left on the slate.
"Nobody, again, feels more disappointment quote unquote than the guys in the locker room and the coaching staff when you’re not having the output or the performance that you desire," Venables said.
"You’ve got to be willing to chase what it requires every single day. No matter what happened yesterday, it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve done it and what kind of success you’ve had in the past, all that matters is what you do today and moving forward, because that’s what you can control.
"We’re always focused on our process and controlling the controllables, and I’ve always encouraged all my players, and social media is a very dangerous place. Again, not to find value in the opinion of other people, especially when it’s people you never go speak or go ask advice from. That’s just armoring up as a human being."
Consistency, Venables explained, must be hallmark.
"Being in a locker room for 30 years as a coach, you’re always reinforcing and reemphasizing how you win and what the process looks like, week in and week out," he said.
"What a Monday looks like. We try to provide as much structure and routine and protection from distractions, so whether the distractions are people praising you or distractions are people trying to pull at you, in regards to (saying), ‘Hey man you need to go chase something. You need to go chase the bag (payday). Go chase another opportunity.’ Or, when people are saying that you’re a bum and I’m thankful to be at a place where people care."
Venables provided quite the visual as he wrapped up his comments: Don't let people inside your head with dirty feet.
"Armoring up and (you) don’t want to allow people to walk in your mind with their dirty feet. That’s real," Venables said. "But at the same time listen, buddy, that’s just the way it is. And we’re in a performance-based profession, so let’s focus on us. Let’s focus on each other and let’s be great teammates and hunker down."
Nothing has caught the Sooners unprepared to handle the ups and downs of this season.
"We try to provide the security, the peacefulness of a routine, a structure well before the season started in talking about these things," Venables said. "We spend a lot of time throughout the year developing toughness, developing mindset, having leaders reinforce those things and no matter what, every single week, you’ve got to start completely over with your process.
"Your ability to take inside the house, have great self-awareness, focus on that. When you have self-awareness, you know when you fall short and you’re willing to go right back at it. And you should always be under construction, I really believe that."
And ...
"It’s always seeking improvement, and the best players, the best units, the best teams they focus on improving every single day," he said. "And know that if it’s done the right way it’s probably more incremental than not. Don’t lose focus. Don’t lose our vision no matter what."