Bob leans over Brent Venables: ‘He’s what you want’

Brent Venables enters the third year of his coaching tenure at Oklahoma with one catch — joined the SEC.

After an impressive 2023 campaign, there is plenty of buzz surrounding the Sooners program as it enters a new era in OU athletics. Former head coach Bob Stoops, appearing live on the SEC Network from Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, explained why Venables is the right man to lead the Sooners into their new conference.

“Brent (Venables) has an amazing, tremendous passion and energy, he connects so well with the players in all the right ways,” Stoops said Monday. “I just have complete confidence that he’s going to continue to build this program positively and in a great way. I can not wait. But I have a long history with Brent, from recruiting him, to a player, to coaching him here for 13 years. He is what you want and he will do a great job and so will his staff.”

That belief is bolstered by the fact that Venables received a six-year, $46 million extension last week.

In two seasons, Venables posted a 16-10 record overall. The improvement from year one to year two was clear, however, as the Sooners went from 6-7 in his debut season to 10-3. The development on both sides of the ball was evident for Oklahoma in 2023. They went from 32.8 points per game. (33) to 41.7 ppg. (4th) in the offense, passing and allowing 30 ppg. (90) to 23.5 (49) in defense.

Fast forward to 2023, where the Sooners are off to a 7-0 start, which included a win over the archrival Texas Longhorns. Reaching No. 6 in the AP Poll, a pair of losses knocked them out of the national race, but they finished the regular season 10-2 before a season-ending loss to Arizona in the Alamo Bowl.

Venables also recruited nationally for the program. All three of his classes to his credit so far have been in the Top-10 of On3’s football recruiting rankings, including No. 6 in 2023. 2025 is on track to do the same as it currently is. no. 10.

The wait to join the SEC may be over, but the Sooners won’t begin conference play until Week 4 when they host Nico Iamaleava and Tennessee Volunteers. However, the season will begin on August 30 when the Sooners host Temple.