Oklahoma’s inaugural season in the SEC did not go according to plan, and that’s putting it nicely. The Sooners patched together a 6-7 campaign in Year 3 of the Brent Venables era, putting his job squarely on the line in 2025.
There might not be a coach in the country facing more pressure than Venables this season, and with so much on the line, he’s going back to his roots of success.
Amid a host of other high-profile changes, the Sooners were left without a defensive coordinator when Zach Alley left to take the same role at West Virginia. After swinging and missing on Jim Knowles, Oklahoma opted to do what made the most sense—have Venables call the defense.
Despite adding two coaches (Nate Dreiling and Wes Goodwin) who served as defensive coordinators last season, Venables has decided that he’ll be calling the shots on defense.
During the Sooners’ spring Media Day on Wednesday, Venables was asked about his decision to take on the play-calling duties while still serving as the head coach.
“Why am I gonna call the defense? Because I’m good at it,” Venables said. “I’m confident in it. We’ve got a great staff. If I’m gonna be successful, if the players are gonna be successful, if the product is gonna be what we want it to be, it’s going to be because of all of us. Somebody has got to lead it.”
There’s a lot on the line in ’25, and calling the defense is something that Venables says that well within his “comfort zone.”
“Many people do that at a really high level, where they call an offense or call a defense and have a lot of success,” Venables said. “No guarantees with anything, but it’s a comfort zone for me. Last year when we went 6-7, I didn’t call the defense. So that didn’t work very well.”
