As the Oklahoma Sooners begin spring football this week, there are several new faces around the program. A program that needed some changes following a 6-7 season in 2024.
Perhaps the biggest off-field change was the hiring of new general manager Jim Nagy last week. Nagy, who replaced Curtis Lofton, previously ran the Senior Bowl and was considered a big-time hire by athletic director Joe Castiglione. He’ll join head coach Brent Venables in an attempt to get the program back to its winning ways.
Venables spoke publicly about Nagy for the first time on Wednesday and had high praise for the new GM. “An assassin on the field,” Venables said of Nagy. “And just a great human being as well as a great leader off the field.”
Nagy’s experience at the Senior Bowl has helped build connections across the sport, but he’s also been on the frontline of team building for a long time, with a track record of success.
“He’s a guy that has this connection to three different staffs that have won Super Bowls,” Venables said. “So a lot of people have been scouts for a long time, but the resumes don’t always look the same.”
The move allowed Venables to move back into what he loves to do, and that’s coach.
“I think the biggest thing from a time-management standpoint is it take a load of times and gives you back to the things you want to be as a head coach,” Venables said. “You already have a finite amount of time as it is.”
As the college football landscape continues to change regarding name, image, and likeness and the revenue-sharing era, Nagy will now be tasked with keeping Oklahoma at the forefront of it all. In this area, the Sooners have fallen behind a bit in recent years, especially compared to the best of the SEC.
Bringing in Nagy is the first step in helping the Oklahoma Sooners become contenders for the long haul.
This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Brent Venables discusses the addition of Jim Nagy to Oklahoma Football
