It has not been an easy season for Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables on the field. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong on the offensive side of the ball, and Oklahoma is on the verge of missing a bowl game for the first time in 25 years. 

Yet, we're reminded that coaches have lives outside of football, and Venables has battled through a terrible off-the-field ordeal throughout this season. 

Monday evening, Venables revealed that his wife, Julie, had her cancer return in May, just two months after she was declared cancer-free. He also announced that she recently underwent surgery to remove a tumor. 

Brent Venables says on his coaches show that his wife’s cancer returned in May and last week she had surgery to remove a tumor.

“A big part of the battle was her choice to fight and she’s going to keep swinging.”

What a tough situation. #Sooners

— George Stoia III (@GeorgeStoia) November 19, 2024

I can speak from personal experience regarding cancer. I lost my father six years ago to nodular melanoma. The treatment process for him took a toll on all of us, and I'm still haunted by what I heard and saw in these months to this day. It fills your thoughts with worries about what happens if the worst does come to pass while simultaneously filling you with dread about that prospect even occurring. You can't avoid these feelings for very long, and seeing the person affected undergo these treatments is a pain you just can't begin to describe. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. 

Venables has been battling these thoughts with the love of his life and the mother of his children while also somehow serving as the head coach of a premier blue-blood program with immense expectations. Nobody would have blamed him if he resigned in May to be with his wife through this. I was just a college student at the time and it dominated my thoughts and riddled me with anxiety that I still haven't shaken off. 

How Venables can get through a day with all of this going on is wondrous to me. I have so much respect for him for being able to handle all of this really well publically, even if it is taking a toll on him privately. Even more incredible to me is that the defense took such an incredible step forward and the Sooners are still recruiting at a high level under him, even with all of this going on. 

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I'll say this: Yes, Oklahoma's inaugural SEC season has been pretty disappointing. Some things were in Venables' control, like the decision to hire Seth Littrell, while others were outside of his realm, like the insanely poor injury luck the offense has battled. Every single week, however, the team responds to him and plays for him. Venables has changed the culture of the team. 

The kind of culture he has built and the development the team has had under him is radically different than it was just a few short years ago under Lincoln Riley. 

Yet, this whole season, Venables has been battling one of the most horrifying ordeals you can go through as a family behind closed doors. I cannot imagine how he is able to function managing a job with the kind of expectations while going through something like what he and his wife and children are battling. 

I understand the frustrations regarding this season. Believe me, I share many of them. It's not been an easy season for fans to get through with some truly baffling moments. 

With that being said, I believe Venables deserves grace. Everything that could have gone wrong has this season, in both his personal and professional life. Despite that, the defense improved tremendously, they are still recruiting at a high level and the team competes in every game for him. Even with his private life dominating his thoughts, Venables puts himself in the line of fire every week for this team. 

This situation reminds us all that there are real people on the field, all of whom battle their demons daily. So please, offer Brent Venables some grace now. He deserves it. As Sooners fans, we should all be rallying around him and offering him as much support as we can.