Ole Miss Football: How to approach the coaching search
By John Gillon
![BATON ROUGE, LA - OCTOBER 22: Head coach Hugh Freeze of the Mississippi Rebels reacts during the first half of a game against the LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium on October 22, 2016 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) BATON ROUGE, LA - OCTOBER 22: Head coach Hugh Freeze of the Mississippi Rebels reacts during the first half of a game against the LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium on October 22, 2016 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/cf86a31e6347d9643d227b96069ce60786d65b1d081c67272eea7df6b086312a.jpg)
1. Brent Venables
Brent Venables can be directly related to the recent success at Clemson. The only coach with more impact was probably Dabo Swinney.
Venables, the DC of the defending national champs, won the Broyles Award in 2016. The Broyles Award goes to the nations top assistant coach. Safe to say he is a good coach? It is worth noting that Venables is the second highest paid assistant in the country at a cool 1.7 million.
Venables has led the Clemson defense since 2012. He has led very successful defenses while his offense runs the spread, which is important at Ole Miss.
The man can obviously recruit as Clemson is on a tear lately. Of course, winning the title in 2016 and coming up just short in 2015 helps recruiting.
Ole Miss needs someone with a clean image, energy, and history of success even if it is as an assistant. Venables checks all the boxes.
The one drawback is Venables may currently be content with his role in Clemson. I get the whole idea of if it isn’t broke don’t fix it. It is worth noting that Dabo Swinney doesn’t expect Venables to seek a head coaching job in the near future.