For years, the Clemson Tigers were the gold standard in college football, and Brent Venables was a big part of that.

From 2012 through 2021, Venables served as Clemson's defensive coordinator under Dabo Swinney and helped the Tigers reach four National Championship Games and win two of them throughout that span.

Venables coached some fantastic defensive players during that time period, and his run at Clemson helped him land the Oklahoma Sooners head-coaching job.

It hasn't exactly been smooth sailing for Venables since then, as he has gone a rather pedestrian 35-22 in Norman, but he did lead Oklahoma to a CFP appearance last season.

The Sooners are 3-2 thus far in 2026 and just upset the former No. 1 Texas Longhorns last Saturday, so perhaps that can get Venables' squad going.

But this season, Venables has drawn some criticism for having practices that are too physical, which has resulted in injuries to key players.

The 55-year-old offered some pushback to that statement this week ... and appeared to take a shot at Swinney and Clemson in the process.

“It does take what it takes,” Venables said. “And we’re sitting here talking about that, and somebody sent me maybe the ‘star’ position from Georgia, Khalil Barnes, how hard they practice — Monday Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday was his exact words. And he talked about while he was at Clemson, had not, didn’t practice that hard and wasn’t that tough and the physicality of the practice and things," Venables said.

That definitely seems like some shade.

What's weird is that Venables was at Clemson for a decade and certainly learned a lot from Swinney throughout his tenure with the Tigers. So did he learn how to conduct hard practices all on his own? Or did Swinney play a role?

Or perhaps Venables had a problem with the way Clemson practiced back then and simply did not voice his opinion about it?

Regardless, Venables' remarks are a bit inflammatory because of the fact that he had such a successful run at Clemson. Maybe he didn't mean it to sound too abrasive, but it did come across that way, and it isn't a good look for the former Tigers DC.

At this point, though, Clemson has lost so much respect across the country because of how hard the program has fallen that it has become a national punching bag of sorts.

There was a time when the Tigers were the nation's most dominant team in a landscape that included the Nick Saban-led Alabama Crimson Tide.

That has changed drastically over the last five years, and Venables' rather pointed comments are concrete evidence of that.

Source: Yahoo Sports