Brent Venables wins 2016 Broyles Award

Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables poses with the Broyles Award after winning it Tuesday in Little Rock.
Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables poses with the Broyles Award after winning it Tuesday in Little Rock.

Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables is the 2016 winner of the Broyles Award as college football's best assistant coach.

Venables won the award during a lunch banquet at The Marriott Hotel in Little Rock. The award's four other finalists - Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown, Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, Colorado defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt and Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Matt Canada - were also in attendance.

Leavitt was Venables' position coach at Kansas State in 1991.

Venables called it "incredibly humbling" to win and credited his team with making it happen.

"[I'll] gladly go back and share that award with our players and our coaches," he said. "Again, I think it's a reflection of them."

Venables won the award for the first time in his third time as a finalist. He was also a finalist for the award last season and in 2006 while defensive coordinator at Oklahoma.

Venables' unit ranked ninth nationally this season in total defense (313.9 yards per game) and helped the Tigers return to the College Football Playoff for the second consecutive season. Clemson will face Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31.

The Broyles Award is named for former longtime Arkansas football coach Frank Broyles, whose coaching staffs included assistants who went on to become some of the biggest names in the sport. Among coaches to assist Broyles were Super Bowl-winning head coaches Joe Gibbs, Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer, and College Football Hall of Fame members Hayden Fry, Johnny Majors and Doug Dickey.

Venables and Leavitt are both extensions to Broyles' coaching tree. Both coached at Kansas State under Bill Snyder, whose mentor was Fry.

Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

Arkansas Online reporter Austin Cannon contributed to this story.

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