The Oklahoma Sooners are in a place they haven’t been in for quite some time. They’re coming off of just their second losing season since 1998. The other thing that’s unfamiliar is that their head coach likely enters 2025 on the hot seat.
Not everything that happened in 2024 was Venables’ fault, but as the Hall of Famer Bill Parcells once said, you are what your record says you are. And in two of the last three seasons, the Sooners have been a losing football team. That’s why ESPN’s Bill Connelly included Venables among head coaches with the most to prove in 2025.
Oklahoma has suffered just two losing seasons in the past 26 years, and Brent Venables was in charge for both of them. The Sooners faced a ridiculous schedule during last season’s 6-7 campaign, and they enjoyed a bright spot with their late-November pummeling of Alabama. But that was their only win over an FBS opponent after September, and they fielded their worst offense of the 21st century. Venables has recruited well enough to fend off any major hot seat issues, but you eventually have to turn recruiting potential into on-field production, and OU’s schedule won’t get any easier in his fourth season in charge. – Connelly, ESPN
Venables was mentioned along with notable head coaches James Franklin, Brian Kelly, Lincoln Riley (!!!), Bill Belichick, and Cal’s Justin Wilcox.
As optimistic as I might be about the Oklahoma Sooners in 2025, it’s 100% a prove-it year for Venables and the program. Year one in the SEC wasn’t kind to the Oklahoma Sooners. A second year of struggling in their new home will turn the heat up on the head coach’s hot seat.
He’s taken an aggressive approach to fixing the issues that plagued the team last year by bringing in an up and coming offensive coordinator and the best quarterback in the transfer portal to right everything that went wrong a year ago. Even with an improved offense and a defense that’s flirting with elite status, the only thing that matters is how many games they’ve won.
If they’re a playoff contender in the month of November, Venables will likely be in Norman for 2026. But if Oklahoma finishes the regular season with another losing record under Venables, it would be hard to justify another year. Venables and the Sooners have to prove their worth on the field.
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