Tag: Joe Castiglione

Oklahoma Sooners to honor Bob Stoops Saturday night

Oklahoma Football set to honor Bob Stoops during Saturday’s home finale against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

The Oklahoma Sooners will be honoring one of the greatest coaches in program history on Saturday. [autotag]Bob Stoops[/autotag], the winningest coach in OU Football history, will be celebrated on Owen Field as Oklahoma hosts the Alabama Crimson Tide.

He’s the final coach to be honored during home games this season, as [autotag]Bud Wilkinson[/autotag] and [autotag]Barry Switzer[/autotag] were also celebrated earlier this year.

Stoops took the reins of the program at a tumultuous time in Norman. Following Switzer’s resignation a decade earlier, the Oklahoma football program experienced a decade of darkness, looking nothing like the Sooners of old. For ten years from 1989 to 1998, OU cycled through three head coaches and failed to get close to winning at the level that the program was accustomed to.

But that all changed when Stoops was hired. Beginning in 1999, he brought the program back to its former glory, going undefeated and winning the national championship in 2000 in just his second year on the job. For his 18-year career as OU’s head coach, the Sooners were typically in the title hunt, as Stoops coached in three more national title games.

Oklahoma won 10 Big 12 championships, dominating the conference with Stoops at the helm. He produced two Heisman Trophy winners ([autotag]Jason White[/autotag] and [autotag]Sam Bradford[/autotag]) and coached two more who won later in their careers ([autotag]Baker Mayfield[/autotag] and [autotag]Kyler Murray[/autotag]).

From 1999 to 2016, Stoops amassed more wins than any other coach in the history of the program. His time in Norman was marked by a number of big wins and the rebirth of one of college football’s blue blood programs.

The legendary head coach decided to retire in the summer of 2017, passing the baton to [autotag]Lincoln Riley[/autotag], his offensive coordinator for the previous two seasons. He would dabble in tequila sales, college football studio analysis and coaching in the XFL over the next few years.

But when Riley decided to head west for Southern California in 2021, athletic director [autotag]Joe Castiglione[/autotag], who had hired Stoops way back in the winter of 1998, turned to Stoops again as the Sooners suddenly needed an interim head coach for the 2021 Alamo Bowl.

In addition to taking over as the interim head coach and leading OU to a bowl game victory over Oregon, Stoops was a calming force at a time of great uncertainty. Riley’s move was a shot across the college football landscape and Stoops was once again a steadying force for Oklahoma.

He passed the torch to Oklahoma’s current coach, [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag], after the win over Oregon and has returned to coaching in the XFL and UFL over the past couple of seasons with the Arlington Renegades, winning a championship in 2023. He’s stayed very involved with OU over the years since he retired, and his son [autotag]Drake Stoops[/autotag] enjoyed a long, productive career as a Sooner.

Now, Stoops will be honored for his accomplishments as Oklahoma’s winningest head coach.

It’s been a rocky season for the Sooners, and the best way to honor Coach Stoops would be with an upset win at home on Saturday. After all, he went 3-0 against the Tide, and would love to see OU earn bowl eligibility on national TV on the same night he’ll be celebrated on Owen Field.

Oklahoma administration offers support for Sooners head coach Brent Venables

Speaking at the OU Board of Regents meeting, Joseph Harroz and Joe Castiglione offered Brent Venables a vote of confidence.

The Oklahoma Sooners have had a disappointing season to say the least. 5-5 is unacceptable at the University of Oklahoma regardless of the conference one plays in. Sure, the SEC is a different challenge than what the Big 12 has offered in recent years, but head coach Brent Venables and his staff knew what was coming, and the result this season hasn’t lived up to expectations.

The Sooners most recent loss to Missouri felt like arguably the most disappointing of the season. With a lead at halftime and then again in the final two minutes, Oklahoma watched the win slip through their grasp. Now, the Sooners are staring at a potential second losing season in three years under head coach Brent Venables.

But as the hot seat turns up, Oklahoma president Joseph Harroz and athletic director Joe Castiglione offered support for their head coach. At Tuesday’s OU Board of Regents meeting, Harroz and Castiglione were asked about their confidence in Venables.

“It’s unwavering right now,” Harroz told media members. “We know it’s been a tough season. I’ve been around Oklahoma Football for a long time. We have the right coach. This is our coach. We knew it was going to be a tough year going to the SEC, the first year. You add that with all of the things that are taking place around the shifting NIL landscape, with hopefully more certainty coming next year if the preliminary approval becomes final in the lawsuit. We knew there was going to be some turbulence. Obviously, we’d love to have more wins, but our confidence in the coach is as steady as it’s ever been.”

Harroz went on to share with The Oklahoman that his confidence in Venables is at “100%.”

The season has certainly had it’s share of issues from injuries to staff changes to inexperience on the offensive side of the ball. Castiglione is aware of the challenges Venables and his staff have faced.

“I believe in Brent,” Castiglione shared with The Oklahoman. “He’s gone up against the best offensive coordinators that college football has seen as a defensive coordinator. He understands, as any head coach would, what makes teams tough to defend, and we want to be focused on hiring a coach that can assemble the strategy to make our offense one of the toughest to defend in college football.

“You do that with getting the right coaches to identify the right talent and teach and develop them. Put the team in a position to be successful and play complementary football. Because we’ve seen all of the time how important that is to win games, especially in a very, very challenging league like the SEC. But we want to continue to have our sights set on being among the best in the SEC and beyond.”

The Oklahoma Sooners won’t likely reach a bowl game in 2024 unless they can find an offense over the final three weeks of the regular season. With games against Alabama and LSU remaining after the bye, the Sooners are on track for their worst season since 1998.

Brent Venables and the Sooners will have a number of important decisions to make this offseason. From the offensive coordinator to their quarterback situation. Venables has to get this offseason right.

When was the last time the Oklahoma Sooners lost four straight games in one season?

The Sooners are looking to avoid a four-game losing streak on Saturday.

The Oklahoma Sooners have lost their last three games, all coming since the bye week. Losses to Texas, South Carolina and Ole Miss have OU sitting at 4-4 after a 4-1 start to the season.

[autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag]’ team will look to avoid a fourth-straight loss on Saturday when the Sooners host the Maine Black Bears in Norman. The Black Bears are an FCS team.

To find the last time Oklahoma lost four straight games in one season, we have to go back to the 1990s. Specifically, that ill-fated 1998 season that is getting brought up far too often in regards to the 2024 team.

The 1998 Sooners started the season 2-0 with wins over North Texas and TCU, but lost five straight games after that, falling to California, Colorado, Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma State, before finally getting back in the win column against Iowa State. A shutout loss to Texas A&M followed, and the Sooners finished 5-6 with wins over Baylor and Texas Tech to close the season.

Head coach [autotag]John Blake[/autotag] was fired after the season, and a young athletic director named [autotag]Joe Castiglione[/autotag] hired Florida defensive coordinator [autotag]Bob Stoops[/autotag] to be the next head coach at Oklahoma. The duo ended a ten-year period of darkness for the proud program.

The Sooners haven’t lost four straight games since that 1998 season. Under Stoops, it was very rare to see Oklahoma lose two games in a row, and nearly impossible to see them drop three straight. In fact, the current losing streak is only the second three-game skid since 1998. The other came in Venables’ first season back in 2022. OU lost to Kansas State, TCU, and Texas in succession on their way to a 6-7 season.

Oklahoma will try to find a way back into the win column on Saturday, as the game against Maine will kick off at 1:30 p.m. on ESPN+.

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Brent Venables believes there’s no limit to what Sooners can achieve

The Sooners’ head coach joined SEC Network’s Marty and McGee to talk about the Oklahoma standard.

Oklahoma Sooners head football coach [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] answered many questions in 2023.

After being hired to be the next head coach of the historic OU football program on Dec. 5, 2021, he had plenty of work to do to build the program in his image after his predecessor’s sudden and unexpected departure.

At the time, Oklahoma fans didn’t know just how much of a rebuild it would be. Venables clearly believed the Sooners had slipped from the standard of toughness, physicality and discipline that made them one of college football’s premier programs.

Venables’ inaugural season was a disappointment. OU went 6-7, its worst record of the 21st century. At this time last year, there were plenty of questions nationally about Venables and his direction for the program in Norman.

A 10-3 season last year answered many of the critics. The Sooners bounced back, improving in just about every area. A [autotag]Red River Rivalry[/autotag] win over Texas was the season’s highlight, but unfocused and mistake-filled football plagued OU in losses against Kansas and Oklahoma State.

Those games not only kept Oklahoma out of the [autotag]College Football Playoff[/autotag] after a 7-0 start, they also kept the Sooners out of the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] championship game. Oklahoma settled for an Alamo Bowl berth, which was an uneven, turnover-plagued loss against Arizona with a different starting quarterback and offensive coordinators.

The message from Venables to his team was clear: The Sooners still had plenty of room for improvement.

Now, the Sooners enter the toughest conference in college football, the [autotag]SEC[/autotag].

Oklahoma must continue along its trajectory and take another step forward in 2024. However, a brutal schedule in a very strong conference will make that difficult to do. But Venables was hired with the SEC move in mind, and he has been preparing for this for 2 1/2 years. His focus is competing for championships in 2024 and beyond.

OU looks ready to improve again this season with a veteran defense leading the way. A younger, but talented, offense has big potential, and the head coach knows special teams must be better. Along with breaking in new coordinators on both sides of the ball, there are points of concern on the roster and, of course, with the schedule. But the Sooners have the pieces to make another leap in 2024. They also have a head coach who believes he has improved since this journey started as well.

Venables joined the SEC Network’s Marty Smith and Ryan McGee on their show, “Marty and McGee” to talk about his team and the program overall entering the SEC. He was asked what led to him finally becoming a head coach after a long stint as an assistant at Kansas State, defensive coordinator at Oklahoma and then Clemson.

“I’ve always had this stance. That if you have what you’ve always valued, don’t screw it up,” Venables said. “I think too often we go with the narrative of the next raise or the next title or the next promotion. We make it about ourselves, and then we get into our feelings, and we start comparing our career to someone else’s or whatever everybody else expects you to do. When you have this amazing quality of life, don’t screw it up. So I always had this amazingly high standard for what it would take for (Venables’ wife) Julie and our family to pivot, and I’ve always been a people person.”

But, Venables explained that his relationships and confidence in Oklahoma’s leadership, namely athletic director [autotag]Joe Castiglione[/autotag] and university president [autotag]Joseph Harroz Jr.[/autotag] led him back to Norman.

“So at the end of the day, when this opportunity came, you’re talking about somebody in myself, in our family, all four of our children were born in Norman, the relationship, the peace, and the confidence I had in the leadership of Joe Castiglione and Joe Harroz, these are mainstays at Oklahoma during my career,” Venables said. “I know if I’m going to be successful as a head coach, I want to wake up every day when my feet hit the ground and love what I do, where I do it, and where I do it with, and it was just like check, check, check. I had this peace because of the past experience, and I always knew, man, there’s no limits on what Oklahoma can achieve. This is the standard in college football.”

Venables was long coveted by other programs to become a head coach after successful stints calling defenses at both Oklahoma and Clemson. He was the co-defensive coordinator (along with Mike Stoops) for the 2000 team that won the national championship at OU and the 2003 team that played for a national title. He was the solo DC for the 2004 and 2008 OU teams that played for national championships as well. He was a a part of seven of [autotag]Bob Stoops[/autotag]’ 10 conference titles at Oklahoma.

During his time at Clemson, the Tigers rose to national prominence, often with Venables’ defense leading the charge. Clemson won two national titles (2016 and 2018), played in two more national championship games (2015 and 2019), and fell in the [autotag]CFP[/autotag] semifinals twice (2017 and 2020). Six conference titles came from the 10-year Dabo Swinney-Brent Venables partnership at Clemson.

Though Venables was heavily pursued on multiple occasions to leave Clemson and take the reins of his own program, he didn’t budge. That was until his former employer came calling. Now, over 2 1/2 years later, Venables has the Sooners on the rise again after the rebuild that proved necessary. They were slipping under former head coach Lincoln Riley. Though some rough times have followed, the roster looks more and more like a Venables team.

Venables and Oklahoma agreed to, essentially, a two-year contract extension this offseason, meaning the feeling of fit and belonging the head coach has in Norman is mutual. The extension’s statement is obvious. The Sooners believe they have their guy in place to lead them into the [autotag]Southeastern Conference[/autotag], and Brent Venables is fired up to be the one in that position.

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Sooners formally announce Curtis Lofton as GM, partnership with Jake Rosenberg

Oklahoma announces partnership with Jake Rosenberg and Curtis Lofton is promoted to Oklahoma’s first-ever GM position.

The landscape of collegiate athletics is evolving at a pace that would impress even a superhero with superspeed like The Flash. Seemingly, something new is popping up weekly, and universities across the country are forced to adapt on the fly with little to no buffer periods.

Name, image and likeness licensing may be the biggest change to the college landscape. Its impact on the game has been certifiably seismic.

Oklahoma has embraced it head-on as a university and, more specifically, an athletic department. It has increased its name, image and likeness backing and used prominent Oklahoma figures to help endorse and spread the word about its importance to the fan base.

Internally, Oklahoma is also making sure it has leaders who can spearhead the Sooners trek through this brave new world.

To do that, the university announced Curtis Lofton as Oklahoma’s first general manager. It also announced a partnership with Jake Rosenberg, former Philadelphia Eagles vice president of football administration.

In short, Lofton’s announcement also included the formation of a football front office — similar to what you would see in the NFL. The focus is to keep Oklahoma’s football program at the forefront of talent analysis, acquisition and retention in this ever-changing landscape.

“We’re seeing things we’ve never seen before in the recruiting process,” football coach Brent Venables said in a statement released by the university. “To Oklahoma, we know how to adapt, and this new approach to managing our recruiting operations represents our forward thinking and agility. Winning takes all of us, and I am confident in Curtis and the rest of our staff and their commitment to continuing to elevate Oklahoma Football.”

Lofton will play a critical advisory role in identifying high school and transfer portal talent and building the overall roster makeup for Venables.

Rosenberg’s addition is to counsel the Sooners due to his partnership with The Athlete Group – a consulting firm designed to help sports programs solve their biggest challenges – where he is currently leading the agency’s efforts in collegiate sports.

In his 12-plus years with the Eagles, Rosenberg contributed critical oversight on player signings and acquisitions, salary cap management, contract negotiations, compliance with the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, roster building, strategic planning and more.

His wealth of experience and knowledge will be valuable assets to Lofton as he and Venables put their heads together to push Oklahoma in the right direction.

The hire of Lofton comes after he spent two years as the director with Oklahoma’s football’s SOUL mission player development program. SOUL mission works to create first-class, impactful student-athletes and prepare them to be servant leaders and sustain a lifestyle of winning. He also was Oklahoma’s NFL liaison.

“In today’s landscape, we know building teams and recruiting athletes requires more innovative thinking and focused leadership,” said Oklahoma Vice President and Athletic Director Joe Castiglione. “What we have in this new structure and our partnership with Jake is a path forward to position OU Football – and eventually, the rest of our programs – for success in the new world.”

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Oklahoma’s move to the SEC 10 years in the making

When conference realignment hit the Big 12 more than a decade ago, Oklahoma athletic director took a proactive approach to secure OU’s future.

The foundation of college football is built on an ever-shifting bedrock, as conference realignment has redefined the sport over the last 40 years.

Whether it was the merging of teams from the Southwest Conference and Big 8, the ACC and Big Ten’s raid of the Big East, or the Pac-12’s fall from football relevance, realignment has been a constant in modern collegiate athletics. Blue-blood programs have consolidated over the last decade. The SEC and Big Ten have solidified themselves as the power players in college football, while the Big 12 and ACC have remained steady. For the moment.

It’s survival of the fittest on the collegiate landscape. Administrators are forced to be proactive and forward-thinking to ensure their school’s place at the media rights buffet.

“Understanding some way, shape or form those things that we saw eight, 10 years ago are happening,” Joe Castiglione shared with the media on Monday.

The last round of realignment saw the Big 12 lose key members, including a Nebraska program that was one of Oklahoma’s longest-running rivals. It forced Sooners’ athletic director Joe Castiglione to consider where his school stood in the collegiate athletics landscape. In the span of just a couple of years, the Big 12 went from one of the strongest conferences in football to a league in turmoil.

When Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri, and Texas A&M departed, it left the Big 12 in some unsteady waters. The additions of TCU and West Virginia righted the ship, but Castiglione knew then that realignment wasn’t over and the University of Oklahoma had to be proactive.

“It came after a lot of thought,” Castiglione ellaborated. “Deep, deep thought about us as a university, and where we are, you know, in the world, what we’re trying to accomplish, broadly as a university, and what role intercollegiate athletics plays in that. And trying to keep an eye on how college athletics was evolving much more quickly than some people 10 years ago, wanted to admit.”

It’s understandable that some institutions are frustrated with the Sooners and Longhorns for leaving the Big 12 for the SEC. It’s understandable that institutions felt left in the dark about a big-time business deal that had huge ramifications, not just for the schools involved but for the sport as a whole.

But at the end of the day, it’s not personal. It’s business.

When the writing was on the wall more than a decade ago, Joe Castiglione began to proactively look at what would be in the best interest of the University of Oklahoma. On July 1, Oklahoma officially began its tenure as an SEC school, ready to remind everyone who’s at the pinnacle of collegiate athletics.

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Oklahoma AD takes a jab at Lincoln Riley in ‘mic drop’ moment

Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione went in on former head football coach Lincoln Riley during the Sooners’ SEC celebration.

The Oklahoma Sooners have officially joined the [autotag]SEC[/autotag]; the move became official on Monday. The university held several events across Norman to celebrate the move.

SEC Network was on hand with a showcase of Oklahoma athletics. [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag], [autotag]Bob Stoops[/autotag], [autotag]Patty Gasso[/autotag] and [autotag]Skip Johnson[/autotag] were among the most notable OU figures to join SEC Network hosts.

But it wasn’t just present and former coaches who stepped into the bright lights of television. OU athletic director [autotag]Joe Castiglione[/autotag] and university president [autotag]Joseph Harroz Jr.[/autotag] joined “SEC Now” on Monday afternoon. The topic of discussion turned to the initial conversations with Oklahoma coaches about the school’s decision in 2021 to leave the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] and join the SEC.

“I will tell you without reservation,” Castiglione said, “every coach we talked to was excited. And, you know what? The ones that weren’t aren’t here anymore. This is Oklahoma. Either get with it or get on with it.”

This, of course, drew quite the reaction from the panel on “SEC Now,” that included ESPN’s Dari Nowkhah and Alyssa Lang, as well as SEC commissioner [autotag]George Sankey[/autotag]. All were well aware of who Castiglione was likely referencing.

“We call that a mic drop,” Harroz Jr. said.

Castiglione’s remarks are most likely about former head football coach [autotag]Lincoln Riley[/autotag], who departed for USC a few months after news broke that OU would be leaving for the SEC. Riley denied the SEC move had anything to do with him leaving. Oklahoma fans, on the other hand, have long believed it’s because he didn’t want to play against the strict competition in the SEC.

Riley had three attempts against the SEC in the playoffs and came up empty. Then reports came out that Riley and the Trojans tried to get out of playing LSU this year and next. And then USC and Ole Miss canceled their two-game series.

But Castiglione dropped the biggest nugget in the whole sage.

This may be the closest thing we ever get to confirmation from Castiglione that Sooner Nation’s suspicions were, in fact, true. After news broke in July of 2021 that the Sooners were moving conferences, Riley led an unfocused 2021 regular season and bolted to Los Angeles hours after it was over.

We all remember the L.A. Times report that stated Riley’s move was months in the making. Riley, on the other hand, insists that Southern Cal convinced him to move his family across the country and be their coach in a matter of hours. Riley hopped on a plane headed west less than a day after losing to Oklahoma State at the end of 2021.

The SEC would have provided harsher competition that the Big 12 did. That’s still absolutely the case. Whether or not that’s why Riley walked may never truly be known. The important thing is Castiglione has his guy to lead the Sooners into the SEC. [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] embraced the challenge of the toughest conference in college athletics, and the Sooners are finally official members of the SEC.

All that’s left now is to win football games.

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Skip Johnson to stay with Oklahoma Sooners

Skip Johnson is set to stay as Oklahoma’s head baseball coach amid Texas A&M rumors.

Oklahoma’s baseball program and the fans around the program can take a deep breath. Skip Johnson is here to stay.

The last few weeks in the college baseball world have been a bit noisier than usual after Jim Schlossnagle surprisingly bolted from his post as the Texas A&M baseball coach for that exact position with the Texas Longhorns.

He is a two-time National Coach of the Year and, simply put, one of the best head baseball coaches in the country. After his Aggies lost in this year’s College World Series championship, he took the vacant Texas Longhorns job.

In the time that has followed, Texas A&M has been feverishly trying to find his replacement. One name that was brought up was Oklahoma’s Skip Johnson.

Reports surfaced Friday afternoon that Johnson was the guy for the Aggies. Josh Callaway of Sooners Illustrated for 247Sports and Kendall Rogers, managing editor for D1Baseball, denied them.

Today, athletic director Joe Castiglione announced that Skip Johnson will stay on as Oklahoma’s head coach and receive an extension that will run through 2029.

Johnson’s work in Norman hasn’t gone unnoticed, and he has the Sooners on an upward trajectory as it enters the SEC.

The key for Oklahoma to take the next step is to back it up financially in name, image, and likeness and upgrade the facilities to match some of the investment other SEC baseball programs receive. If the baseball team can get to that level, with Skip Johnson’s baseball insight and leadership, Oklahoma can touch unfamiliar heights in baseball.

With questions about Johnson’s future in Norman behind them, the Sooners can now focus on preparing for next season and attacking the transfer portal hard as they prepare for the first baseball season as SEC members.

Oklahoma announces celebration information for official SEC move

The Sooners are a matter of days away from officially being a member of the SEC. The university has plenty of events planned to celebrate joining OU’s new conference.

The Oklahoma Sooners will officially join the [autotag]Southeastern Conference[/autotag] on July 1. OU has been working toward this day since the summer of 2021. The university plans to celebrate the big day with plenty of activities. Details for the event can be found at SoonerSports.com.

According to the school, “The celebration will feature a full slate of fun activities for fans of all ages on OU’s Norman campus, including SEC Network programming, the athletics department’s popular summer equipment sale and open houses at the Barry Switzer Center and Love’s Field, with additional morning events in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. It will culminate with a free and family-friendly “Party In The Palace from 5-10 p.m. inside [autotag]Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium[/autotag], with live music, appearances from SEC Commissioner [autotag]Greg Sankey[/autotag], OU President [autotag]Joseph Harroz Jr.[/autotag] and OU Vice President and Director of Athletics [autotag]Joe Castiglione[/autotag] and a drone show above [autotag]Owen Field[/autotag].”

President Harroz Jr. expressed his excitement about the Sooners finally making the move to the SEC:

“Entering the Southeastern Conference marks a transformative new era for the University of Oklahoma and all of Sooner Nation,” said Harroz Jr. “This day of celebration is a tribute to our iconic traditions, relentless pursuit of excellence and the indomitable spirit of Sooner Magic. We can’t wait to bring our passion and pride to the SEC, and this event provides the perfect opportunity for the OU Family to come together and celebrate all that lies ahead.”

Castiglione also addressed the exciting time surrounding the athletic department and the school as a whole:

“This day is years in the making, so it’s appropriate for us to come together and celebrate,” added Castiglione. “We couldn’t be more excited to join the SEC. Our teams are poised for success and look forward to the competition with many of America’s most outstanding universities. At Oklahoma, we have a story to tell, and we’re invigorated by the opportunity with which we’re presented to share with the world what makes OU so special. Our resolute commitment to our student-athletes and their success and to our fans and their experience will only strengthen with this move. We can’t wait to welcome thousands of new people to our community as well as spread Sooner Magic throughout the SEC.”

In addition, the university has planned a “Race to the SEC 5K Glow,” which begins on June 30. There’s a “Midnight Madness Sale,” during which fans can get SEC-licensed merchandise, and a “Shop and Hop Challenge,” in which businesses that participate will sell OU/SEC merchandise for the first time. Each business will contribute a $25 gift card for a customer drawing.

The university has also announced that parking will be free to the public in certain areas. Students are encouraged to participate, with more details about a celebratory event featuring a musical artist scheduled near the start of the fall semester coming in the near future.

Head to SoonerSports.com for the full list of events happening June 30 and July 1 to commemorate Oklahoma moving into the SEC.

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College football analyst calls Brent Venables extension a ‘brilliant shutdown tactic’

The Sooners head into the SEC with their head coach locked up for the future.

Oklahoma Sooners head football coach [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] signed what boils down to a two-year contract extension last week. The new six-year contract also comes with a raise.

While opinions from local and national analysts were wide-ranging on OU’s decision to extend Venables, one writer believes Oklahoma made a sound tactical move.

Rock Westfall, writing for Mike Farrell Sports, had opinions on the move made by athletic director [autotag]Joe Castiglione[/autotag], praising the timing of the extension:

“The 2024 schedule is a maneater,” said Westfall. “And it could have left Venables vulnerable. If Oklahoma does well against that slate, the Venables extension will look like pure genius. But if, more likely, the Sooners struggle in 2024, the new contract will shut down any hot seat talk and allow Venables to effectively recruit without opposing coaches being able to say that he won’t survive.”

Westfall was extremely complimentary of Castiglione for his track record of good decisions:

“Joe Castiglione is in the conversation for being the best athletic director in college sports,” Westfall continued. “He has led Oklahoma since 1998, and the football program has been outstanding under his leadership. Castiglione hired [autotag]Bob Stoops[/autotag] to usher in a generation of glory in Norman. [autotag]Lincoln Riley[/autotag] and Brent Venables were both celebrated as good hires when Castiglione made them. Most importantly, Castiglione made Oklahoma athletics attractive enough to get an invite to the [autotag]SEC[/autotag]. So while the Venables extension looks hasty, there are logical reasons behind it. The best reason for the extension is that Castiglione made it.”

While we have to wait and see how Oklahoma will perform in 2024, Venables’ new deal takes away any hot-seat talk if the Sooners don’t meet expectations this season. Nationally, most are predicting a rough year in Norman, but the roster is continuing to improve. There aren’t a lot of holes on the depth chart aside from offensive line. Even that unit looks better than the national media likely thinks it will be.

But, like it or not, negative recruiting happens in college athletics, especially in college football. Coaches on the hot seat have an uphill climb to attract elite recruits because those recruits don’t know if that coach will still be there in a couple of years. Other programs know this and attack, doing all they can to sway the prospects away from that school.

Castiglione’s decision to extend his coach means that high school athletes and transfers know who will call the shots in Norman, both now and in the future.

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