Where did Brent Venables land in USA TODAY Sports SEC coach rankings?

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Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables continued his unpredictable tenure in Norman last season. Through his first four seasons in Norman, Venables has endured two losing seasons, something Oklahoma had not experienced since the 1990s.

However, Venables has responded after each losing season by producing a double-digit win campaign the following year. That includes last season's 10-3 record and a spot in the College Football Playoff. That season felt like a turning point for both Venables and the Sooners. The expectation now is that Oklahoma will continue building rather than taking another major step backward.

That's why it is surprising to see USA TODAY's Blake Toppmeyer rank Venables as the 10th-best coach in the SEC.

"Venables survived the hot seat by making the playoff," Toppmeyer wrote. "He reasserted his defensive acumen by taking on play-calling to produce the SEC’s fiercest unit. His yo-yo tenure continued to hold pattern, with a good season coming on the heels of a bad one. Offensive consistency remains elusive, and he’s not come close to matching the performance of predecessors Bob Stoops and Lincoln Riley. With John Mateer healthy again, Venables needs to stack consecutive good seasons to further fortify his standing at OU."

While Venables' career has certainly been inconsistent, his accomplishments still compare favorably with those of a few coaches ranked ahead of him, including the Florida Gators' Jon Sumrall and the Missouri Tigers' Eli Drinkwitz.

Venables still has work to do before he can be considered among the SEC's elite coaches, but his resume is stronger than his ranking suggests. He has built one of the best defenses in the country, recruited at a high level, and led Oklahoma back to the College Football Playoff during a difficult transition into the SEC.

The next step is proving last season was not an outlier. If Venables can build sustained success and continue improving the offense, he will quickly move up the SEC coaching rankings and prove Oklahoma made the right decision.

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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Where did Brent Venables land in USA TODAY Sports SEC coach rankings?

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