Time to check in on this thread again.
I didn't see anything this year to shake my belief that Venables wasn't much more than Gilligan on the S.S. Bob Stoops:
Clemson TOTAL D
- 2009: #20
- 2010: #19
- 2011: #71 (epic collapse year)
- 2012: #75 (Venables)
Clemson SCORING D
- 2009: #25
- 2010: #13
- 2011: #81 (epic collapse year)
- 2012: #49 (Venables)
He can recruit. But can he recuit to KSU? And I know being a head coach is a different skill set than being a coordinator, but he strikes me as even less cut-out to be HC.
No thanks.
Recruiting prowess is relative. If he can win recruiting battles against USC and Alabama and Texas at Oklahoma, I wouldn't expect him to win beat those same schools at KSU. I'd expect him to beat the likes of Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and Missouri. He was known as a good recruiter at Oklahoma because he was a good recruiter, not because he was at Oklahoma - it isn't like everyone on that staff had the same rep.
That said, I've cooled on BV, too, mostly because I don't think he's the kick in the pants that I've become enamored with. Although his beauty would be nice.