Brent Venables had only two coaching changes throughout his four-year tenure with the Oklahoma Sooners. However, the Buffalo Bills’ interest in hiring OU’s CB coach, Jay Valai, as DBs coach brought the head coach into a rare situation. Fortunately, Venables has a candidate to replace, but had to break his norms to make the hire, per Insider.
According to OU Insider Travis J. Davidson, Tulsa’s DB coach, Dominique Franks is a candidate to watch out for the Sooners’ next CB coach. He recalled that when Venables arrived in Norman, he asked Franks to join his coaching staff. He is also an Oklahoma alum who played for the Sooners from 2006 to 2010.
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However, this is where the concerns kick in. Venables has never hired a position coach or a coordinator with OU ties. Venables has built his staff with a clear philosophy of bringing in outside perspectives, a trend seen across his last five major hires—from former DC Zac Alley to TE coach Jason Witten—none of whom had prior connections to the Sooners program. If Franks got hired, he would be the first hire with Sooners ties under Venables.
With OU ties being the only roadblock to breaking Venables’ hiring tradition, Davidson cleared the stance. He stated that Franks isn’t just an Oklahoma alum but also a former NFL star and a proven DB coach, differentiating correlation from causation.
If you take a look at Dom Franks’ coaching career, he played a crucial role in developing some promising talents at Tulsa. The Hurricanes’ CB Elijah Green, who had a star-studded season, recorded eight pass breakups, 11 forced fumbles, and five interceptions.
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This earned him the Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist, an All-AAC First-Team selection, and an honorable mention as an All-American in his second season under Franks. Utah State transfer CB J.D. Drew also had a decent run, recording three solo pass breakups. His track record suggests he could immediately elevate the play of the Sooners’ secondary. Additionally, his ties across Owasso and Tulsa can help OU in the in-state recruitment.
If non-OU remains a tradition at Oklahoma, Davidson named another potential candidate, but with Brent Venables’ ties.
Mackenzie Alexander emerges as the other candidate for Brent Venables
Davidson also floated another name with ties to Brent Venables: former Clemson All-American and second-round pick Mackensie Alexander, who is the candidate to watch for the Sooners’ CB coaching role. He revealed to have met Alexander in the past and had heard that Venables discussed a role for him at Oklahoma.
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“It wouldn’t shock me to see former Clemson All-American CB and second-round pick Mackensie Alexander get a text,” Davidson wrote on X. “I spoke with the former Viking and Bengal a couple of years ago, and he’d told me that BV discussed a role and had used his tape to teach when he first got to Norman.”
Alexander played for Venables when he was the DC and LB coach at Clemson, from 2013 to 2015. Under Venables, he earned All-American honors twice, as a freshman, and third-team as a junior. The successful collegiate run helped him land as a second-round pick for the Minnesota Vikings in 2016. However, he has no coaching experience, and the Sooners’ job would be his first.
There are many other coaching options Venables can look into, including Clemson’s Mike Reed, Arizona’s Chip Viney, and Arkansas’s RJ Rushing. Whether Venables sticks to his established hiring pattern or makes an exception for a promising alum, his decision will be a telling sign for the program’s direction.
