Oklahoma’s famous Sooner Schooner has weathered a few bumps in the road in the past, but after suffering through two losing seasons in three years for the first time this century, Brent Venables knew he had to pull the reins.
Oklahoma’s head coach began re-evaluating his plans in October, amid a dreadful start to his third year leading the program and — perhaps more important — the blueblood’s debut season in the mighty SEC. He fired his offensive coordinator in the middle of the season, shifted staff responsibilities and then got a head start on mapping out a blueprint for 2025 — all while the Sooners were still playing games.
“We had to,” Oklahoma athletics director Joe Castiglione told CBS Sports. “I mean, we would’ve been foolish not to be looking forward to what we need.”
They don’t have to say it publicly, but it’s widely understood that Venables enters his fourth year on the hot seat. A 6-7 record was not a disaster on paper, but the Sooners’ downward trajectory in a new conference sounded a few alarm bells in Norman. The Oklahoma diehards won’t admit it, but rival Texas’ trip to the College Football Playoff in its first SEC season has also fueled the desire for a revamp. So, Oklahoma poured more money, time and resources into a full remodel. The university hired a third-party consultant to evaluate the program from top to bottom.
The ensuing changes were dramatic.
The Sooners installed two new coordinators, hired a pair of defensive assistants and installed an entirely new front office with seven staffers led by noted former NFL executive Jim Nagy. They even hired a new trainer with NFL ties. In December and January, the Sooners relentlessly pursued talent in the transfer portal, snagging arguably the best quarterback (Washington State’s John Mateer) and running back (Cal’s Jadyn Ott) in the country to complement five new receivers.
Oklahoma’s Brent Venables, Auburn’s Hugh Freeze among coaches who can significantly boost ranking in 2025
Will Backus
A full overhaul
Where it all went wrong last season is a matter of debate. Venables is 27-17 overall, and though his 10-win season in 2023 sparked hope, the still-unclear decision process that coaxed superstar quarterback Dillon Gabriel to leave for Oregon after that breakout year raised eyebrows. Venables sided with Jackson Arnold, whose performances ultimately delivered more heartburn than relief in 2024.
“If you want to have a chance to get into the playoffs and a chance to be able to compete at the top of the SEC, you’ve got to have elite quarterback play,” Venables said. “It can’t just be good, it’s got to be elite.”
That standard is even higher at a place like Oklahoma, which has produced four Heisman Trophy winners at the position, including two under former coach Lincoln Riley. Riley later coached a third Heisman winner, Oklahoma transfer Caleb Williams, less than a year later at USC in 2022.
The defensive-minded Venables sought out the best assistants after the 2024 misfire. He courted Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles during the week of the Buckeyes’ pursuit of the national championship. Knowles ultimately chose Penn State, leading Venables to assume play-calling duties himself.
While he missed on his top defensive target, he struck it big on the other side of the ball with the best package deal in the sport.
The Sooners hired wunderkind offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, a 29-year-old whose record-breaking offense produced NFL first-rounder Cam Ward and record-breaking passer John Mateer. Mateer followed Arbuckle to Norman after leading FBS quarterbacks with 44 total touchdowns last season at Washington State.
While Oklahoma’s defense ranked in the top 25 last season, the offense was dreadfully impotent, ranking 124th in yards per play (4.8). The Sooners certainly were slowed by injuries — particularly the constantly spinning carousel at receiver — but it was the lack of consistency at quarterback and an ineffective rushing attack behind an injury-laded offensive line that paralyzed the unit. The Sooners toiled behind one of the least productive schemes in the country during former Sooner fullback Seth Littrell’s first and only season as coordinator.
Boomer or bust
As much as Oklahoma fans have tried to downplay the pain of losing Riley to Southern Cal after a surprising overnight departure in December 2021, it’s clear his absence has directly led to diminishing returns on offense. Three years later, Venables has reached the inflection point of his career. Simply put, if his new hires don’t work this fall, he’ll be out of work.
Interestingly, Venables hopes to rekindle that Riley-like magic to right the ship with a hungry, young and innovative play-caller. Arbuckle’s offense at Washington State averaged 36.6 points per game and 6.6 yards per play, both ranking in the top 10 nationally. Arbuckle, whose quick rise started at Houston Baptist and hit on all cylinders at Western Kentucky after a few years under mentor Zach Kittley, might be the hottest name in the industry. His pass offense has ranked in the top five nationally in two of three seasons as an OC.
“I talked to coach Venables for about 30 to 45 minutes about him,” said Kittley, now the head coach at FAU. “He was really trying to dig and find a reason, basically, to not hire him, and there was no reason he shouldn’t. He’s a superstar.”
If one were to define Oklahoma’s offseason, it would include two words: due diligence.
“Everything has been geared to helping our football program be successful,” Castiglione said. “I feel really, really good about all the improvements that have been made.”
Even armed with a front office that is the envy of college football and a quarterback whose talent has the Sooners’ faithful believing again, the road is still treacherous. The schedule this fall is the toughest in the sport, according to ESPN’s SP+.
“It’s all of us together, linking arms, checking egos and having very clearly defined processes in place and then having the professionalism that it takes to work together and do things the right way,” Venables said.
Venables will count on himself, a superstar play-caller during Clemson’s run to two national titles in the 2010s, to maintain the defense’s top-25 performances from last season. On offense, he’ll rely on a pair of 20-somethings — Arbuckle and Mateer — to lift the offense from near the bottom back into the top 25.
“You think of every great quarterback Oklahoma’s had — really, any great quarterback of all time — the one thing that those guys have is elite confidence,” Arbuckle told reporters in the spring. “And that’s the No. 1 thing you have to breathe into a quarterback. You have to breathe that life into them. ‘Look, I am the baddest dude on this field, right? I am. This is my team. This is my offense. This is my game.’
“You have to breathe that elite confidence in them, because the more that they believe in themselves, the more everybody around them is going to believe in them.”
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