Coaching Carousel 2021: 5 smartest new hires in college football (so far)

4. Brent Venables, Oklahoma Sooners

Previous: Clemson defensive coordinator

The long-time defensive coordinator for Clemson (2012-2021) returns to Norman, Okla., where he served as Bob Stoops’ defensive guru.

Venables, 50, has earned his first gig as a head coach and the fans of Oklahoma couldn’t be more excited to have him as their next coach. Thousands of fans awaited his arrival at a local tarmac and Stoops vouched for him on Twitter.

The new head coach brings with him two national championships (2000-Oklahoma, 2016- Clemson) and years of helping build two college football powerhouses.

3. Mario Cristobal, Miami Hurricanes

Previous: Oregon head coach

Another coach with previous ties to the new team that hired him is Mario Cristobal. The former head coach of Oregon has enjoyed a fantastic career. He’s won conference championships, been named one of the best recruiters in the nation and his teams have consistently gone to bowl games. His Oregon Ducks won the 2019 Rose Bowl.

This move to Miami seemed to be spurred more so by personal reasons than perhaps anything. Oregon has better facilities and has been in better shape than the Miami football program in recent years.

Cristobal played for Miami in college, his brother is a police officer in the area and has a sort of fealty to the program that gave him his college football start.

It’s unfortunate how Miami handled the situation of wooing Cristobal while Manny Diaz was still employed as head coach, but this was a great move that will help turn the Canes back into perennial national title contenders.

Cristobal, a second-generation Cuban-American, may have won the introductory press conference of the bunch, giving some answers in Spanish. It was endearing, he apologized for his Spanish being rusty and came off as affable. The complete opposite of LSU’s Brian Kelly using an alleged fake southern accent.