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Rohde: The losses that hit Venables hardest
Brent Venables encourages his defense in the first half during the college football game between the University of Oklahoma (OU) and Baylor University at Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco, Texas, Saturday, October 4, 2008. BY STEVE SISNEY, THE OKLAHOMAN
MANHATTAN, Kan. — In the winter of 2005, Oklahoma associate head coach Brent Venables was a candidate to become the next football coach at Kansas State.
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Despite a wonderful opportunity that was tantalizingly close, these were the worst of times for Venables.
In August that year, his father, Jim, died at age 65.
Two months after that, his mother, Nancy, died at age 58.
Lung cancer had claimed them both.
"I always feared that phone call, that something bad had happened,” Venables recalled earlier this week.
Nancy called with the bad news about Jim.
"I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ ” Venables said, his voice tailing off. "Man. It was like bam.”
Four days after his mother died, Venables stood in a tunnel underneath Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium after the Sooners’ 31-24 victory over the Cornhuskers.
"My mom would slap me silly if I was too beat up about what happened,” Venables said that day. "I know my mom. She wouldn’t have wanted anything else but for me to get to work and find a way to win a game and help lead these guys.”
Venables had been taking care of his parents since that spring. He spent the last part of the summer getting them moved from Kansas to Norman.
His father was in a full-care facility. His mother moved into Venables’ home and was getting treatment.
As if things weren’t miserable enough, the Sooners lost three of their first five games that season.
"From a professional standpoint, that was the most difficult season we’ve gone through at OU,” Venables admitted. "Obviously, what really overshadows that was dealing with my parents. It was a very, very challenging time.
"I’ll be honest, the timing (of the KSU opening) couldn’t have come at a worse time. That was a very overwhelming time in my personal life.”
KSU wound up hiring Ron Prince as its coach, a move the school and many of its fans seem to regret a little more each Saturday.
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