By Will Vandervort.

Brent Venables says it doesn’t matter if a coach is making $100,000 or $2 million a year, the expectations are the same – “they want us to stop them.”

Of course Venables isn’t making either of those amounts, but he is one of the highest paid assistant coaches in the country after he earned a raise in January that brought his total salary to $1.35 million per year for the next four seasons.

“They didn’t need to do that. I would have stayed for a lot less,” Clemson’s defensive coordinator said humbly following Wednesday’s practice.

But Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney and athletic director Dan Radakovich gave Venables a raise of nearly $500,000 from the previous year because his unit led the nation in total defense in 2014, allowing just 260.8 yards per game, the first time Clemson has led the nation defensively since 1990.

The Tigers also led the nation in pass efficiency defense for the first time, and led in yards allowed per play, tackles for loss per game, first downs allowed and third-down conversion percentage defense.

The y also ranked second in passing yards allowed, third in scoring defense and fifth in rushing defense. Clemson was the only school in the nation to finish in the top five of the five major defensive categories, and it was the first time in school history it finished in the top five of all those categories in one season.

Now that he is in the spotlight a little more like his former colleague Chad Morris was, Venables says that will not change the way he does his job because the goal is still the same.

“That stuff doesn’t matter to me. It does not affect me at all,” he said. “I have always been a believer that you can’t let external factors influence you. You can’t be afraid to make a bad call. If you make an aggressive call, then you are okay win, lose or draw with the result.”

“There is a standard and your expectation and your standard is every bit as high if not higher than the masses that are out there,” Venables continued. “If we have success, it isn’t just because of me. Trust me it is those players, our coaches, our culture and Coach Swinney.”

As far as the players go, Venables will have a bunch of new ones this season. He has to replace eight starters from that No. 1 ranked defense, including all four starters on a defensive line that helped the Tigers lead the nation in tackles for loss with a school-record 141.

“Players, they get it. They understand and they make plays even when they are not supposed to,” Venables said. “That’s what players do. They are there every day. Guys like that show up every day. The jury is still out on these guys. We will see, but we hope.”