Athlon Sports assesses Brent Venables' hot seat temperature entering 2025

With college football in the doldrums of the summer months, preview magazines have come out. And with them talk of the hot seat. Is Brent Venables on one?

He is indeed, according to Steve Lassan of Athlon Sports. Lassan compiled a list of coaches on the hot seat for his publication’s preseason magazine and, sure enough, Venables found his way onto the list.

“Transitioning to the SEC wasn’t supposed to be easy, but a 6-7 record in ’24 gave Venables his second losing season at Oklahoma — the program’s only two losing marks since 1999,” Lassan wrote. “Venables hit the reset button on his offensive staff and will handle defensive play-calling duties in 2025.”

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Will that be enough to get Brent Venables off the hot seat? We’ll see. But expectations remain quite high at Oklahoma.

The Sooners are counting on a quarterback transfer to help, with Washington State’s John Mateer joining the fold. Offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle was also brought along to help his transition.

Still, most view Brent Venables as on the hot seat. He’ll have work to do to cool the seat.

“It’s a hot-seat situation for sure,” an anonymous SEC coach told Athlon. “They’re banking on an instant impact from Arbuckle and Mateer the way Vanderbilt brought in the New Mexico State coach/QB combo. That could happen. Their receivers were nonexistent last year, but a lot of that was injury. They should bounce back and give Mateer some options.”

This year, OU brings back Deion Burks at receiver after he played only five games in the 2024 season. He was previously the No. 8 receiver in the 2024 transfer portal according to the On3 Industry Ranking after putting up 629 yards and seven touchdowns at Purdue in 2023.

The Sooners also bring back Jayden Gibson, who missed all of the 2024 season after suffering an injury in fall camp. They also bring in a trio of transfers at the position with Javonnie Gibson, Keontez Lewis and Isaiah Satenga.

As for the schedule, it’s predictably tough again for Brent Venables and company. The Sooners will travel to South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama. Meanwhile, they’ll host Ole Miss, Texas and LSU, among others.