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Oklahoma Sooners (official thread)

Oklahoma president, AD back Brent Venables amid struggles

The University of Oklahoma's president and athletic director gave football coach Brent Venables a vote of confidence on Tuesday after the school's board of regents meeting.

The Sooners are 5-5 overall and 1-5 in league play during their first season in the Southeastern Conference. Venables, in his third season, has a 21-15 record overall.

"We all get emotional [during] the course of a season," Oklahoma president Joseph Harroz Jr. said. "What's unwavering is the commitment to him. This is a new era for us, but it's also a new era for college athletics, and there's going to be a lot of adjustment, and there's going to be a lot that takes place. As far as my commitment to coach Venables, it's 100 percent."

Venables took over after Lincoln Riley left for USC following the 2021 season. The Sooners went 6-7 in Venables' first year, losing the Cheez-It Bowl to Florida State.

Behind quarterback Dillon Gabriel, the Sooners bounced back last season to go 10-2 in the regular season. But Gabriel decided not to play in the Alamo Bowl, which the Sooners lost to Arizona. Gabriel transferred to Oregon, and he has the Ducks ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25.
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The Sooners would pay Venables roughly $3.73 million per year for the next five years. Here is the full breakdown of Venables' buyout by season: $44.8 million after the 2024 season. $34.9 million after the 2025 season.

Just sayin': You lose Dillon Gabriel (your QB1) in the transfer portal and have a much tougher schedule in the SEC, you almost have to expect a "down year". In addition, Venables' $44M buyout was probably a factor too in giving him a "vote of confidence". Hell, wait a couple years and maybe they can hire Lincoln Riley back........ :lol:

Brent Venables and Lincoln Riley are on thin ice at Oklahoma and USC​

When Lincoln Riley came to USC football and Brent Venables came to Oklahoma football, fan wars between Trojan and Sooner backers raged on social media and elsewhere. As we pointed out, though, neither side has emerged a winner in this exchange.

“We were all waiting for that moment when one school and one fan base could say it won the war. It turns out the joke was on all of us, on both sides. USC and Oklahoma fans were both wrong. Neither school has prospered. Neither school has the upper hand. Both teams are mired in misery.”

What adds to the shock value attached to the struggles of both Oklahoma and USC is that Venables and Riley have both produced a really good season at their current jobs. Riley’s 2022 season achieved 11 wins, and Venables won 10 games in a solid 2023 season. There were flaws with those two teams (2022 USC and 2023 Oklahoma), but when USC wins 11 or Oklahoma wins 10, that should generally translate into recruiting and transfer portal momentum which carries into future seasons and leads to rosters deep enough to have answers to various questions. That hasn’t happened at either school. Now we have to contemplate this surprising point: Both Brent Venables and Lincoln Riley are firmly on the hot seat entering 2025.
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