Welcome to the hot seat, Brent Venables: Oklahoma coach at crossroads after bowl loss and second losing season

Oklahoma lost 21-20 to Navy in the Armed Forces Bowl on Friday, dropping the Sooners to 6-7 to end the 2024 season. It’s the second losing season for Oklahoma during Brent Venables’ three seasons in charge. The last time Oklahoma finished a season with a losing record before Venables was 1998, when it went 5-6 to end a failed three-year run under John Blake.

Bob Stoops took over in 1999, and both he and Lincoln Riley combined for 23 straight seasons of success.

Unlike Blake, Venables will get a fourth season, but it’s hard to imagine there will be a fifth unless things turn around in 2025. The 2024 season was an undeniable failure for the program. The Sooners were unable to build on a 10-win season in 2023, which led to a contract extension for Venables, and they took a step back during their first season in the SEC.

Everybody involved with the program understood life would be more difficult in the SEC, but Oklahoma shot itself in the foot repeatedly by failing to properly address the lines of scrimmage before the season began and playing musical chairs at quarterback. 

So where do the Sooners go from here? How does Venables turn things around?

If there’s any optimism, it’s with one of the best defenses in the country. The cruel irony of the situation is that after years of wishing Lincoln Riley could pair his offensive acumen with a competent defense, Venables brought an elite defense only for the offense to disappear entirely.

It’s that side of the ball that needs to be addressed, and Venables has already started laying the foundation. After firing offensive coordinator Seth Littrell during the season, Venables hired Washington State offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle. He’s bringing help, too, in the form of ex-Cougars quarterback John Mateer, one of the most coveted QBs in the transfer portal. 

Still, as exciting as the prospect of a new offense and new QB is, it doesn’t solve all of Oklahoma’s problems. The offensive line is an issue that must be resolved, but Oklahoma’s done some work in the portal there, too, adding Luke Baklenko from Stanford and Derek Simmons from Western Carolina. Whether that’s enough to fix a line that ranked No. 127 nationally in pressure rate allowed and No. 132 in sack rate allowed (though some of that is on the combination of Jackson Arnold and Michael Hawkins) remains to be seen.

The Sooners also need to get a lot luckier at the receiver position. The depth chart was filled with talented options, but they seemed to spend more time on the injury report than on the field.

Then there’s the schedule. It won’t ease up next season. Not only do the Sooners get Michigan in nonconference play, but they will have their annual tilt with Texas, as well as games at Alabama, Tennessee, and South Carolina. They’ll also welcome Ole Miss, LSU, Missouri and a possibly resurgent Auburn to Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. The eight SEC opponents on the schedule went a combined 40-24 in SEC play this season. Only Auburn finished with a losing record in the league, while the other seven opponents spent the majority of the season ranked and competing for College Football Playoff spots.

None of which means Oklahoma can’t turn things around. It just means it won’t be easy to do. If Venables can’t pull it off, the only excitement in Norman next winter will be in the coaching search.