Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables is facing a make-or-break fourth season in Norman. After an unacceptable two losing seasons in three years on the job, 2025 will determine whether he’s still at OU or elsewhere next season.
Following a 10-3 season in 2023, Venables was rewarded with a new contract. That contract essentially made him OU’s coach for the next six seasons, five of which remain on the deal. After another 6-7 campaign in Year 1 of that new deal, it’s now looking like that move might become something that could haunt Oklahoma.
Brad Crawford, a college football analyst for CBS Sports and 247Sports, compiled his list of the best and worst head coach contracts in college football, and Venables was on it, just not in the way Sooner Nation would’ve hoped after learning of his extension last summer.
Thanks to 10 wins ahead of his first season in the SEC, Venables happily signed a six-year extension with the Sooners worth $51.6 million, a big win for CAA’s Jimmy Sexton. Then, reality set in. Ravaged by injuries at wide receiver and marred by season-long struggles at the line of scrimmage, Oklahoma tumbled to its second 6-7 finish in three years under Venables last fall. Now, he will rely on mass transfer portal help to try to right the ship. – Crawford, CBS Sports, 247Sports
Venables wasn’t the only notable name on the list, as a few other SEC coaches were mentioned. Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin and South Carolina’s Shane Beamer have two of the best contracts in college football in Crawford’s opinion, while Kentucky’s Mark Stoops has one of the worst. Venables’ predecessor, USC head coach Lincoln Riley, also had one of Crawford’s worst contracts in college football.
Venables is undergoing another offseason of change in Norman, replacing his offensive and defensive coordinators for the third time in four years in…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/cbs-sports-names-brent-venables-170035468.html
Author : Sooners Wire
Publish date : 2025-03-11 17:00:00
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