Brent Venables adjusting ahead of new-look Big 12, SEC move

Oklahoma has one year remaining in the Big 12 before its move to the SEC, and second-year Sooners coach Brent Venables knows the transition will be challenging for his team and his program.

He’s not worried about that.

In an interview with Fox Sports’ RJ Young, Venables discussed the impending move to the SEC and what he’ll do differently as a coach to make sure the transition is as smooth as possible. In a word: not much differently.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with anybody else,” Venables said. “I’ve said this before, we’ve got to learn to be a good team in this conference. We’re still playing in this conference, let alone the SEC’s down the road. If we don’t get it right inside out, it’s always, football’s a game of matchups.

“The biggest matchup that you’ll have from today and the rest of your life is the man in the mirror, and you’ve got to get that one right. You’ve got to win that matchup first and foremost.”

Oklahoma finished 6-7 in Venables’ first season and there were some real low points, like a 49-0 loss to rival Texas.

That won’t cut it long-term, obviously, especially with the SEC move coming up, so Oklahoma has work to do to produce results that are more in line with the program’s traditional expectations. To that end, Venables is focused on the approach his team takes.

“How you think, how you work, how you respond, how you lead, how you play, you’ve got to get it right there first,” he said. “The bricks and the mortar are continue to nurture the foundation, create vision, rehearse your beliefs and then demand that we meet or exceed those expectations or standards each and every day, one day at a time. Don’t try to get ahead of ourselves.

“Don’t try to live in the past, but the past, good or bad, shapes you, develops you, forms you. You learn from it. But don’t allow the past, good or bad, paralyze you. I think a lot of people as they pursue excellence, or they pursue excellence, they can be paralyzed and they can lose their passion for it all. So I want our guys not to lose our way and just chase excellence one day at a time, put the work in one day at a time. This team is going to get exactly what we earn.”

If Venables’ message sounds a bit basic, it is, in a sense.

The key is in how well the team embraces the ideals Venables espouses and how well individuals work together as a group to strive toward excellence. The SEC move will put all of it to the test.

“There’s a price for developing good habits and there’s a cost for developing bad habits,” Venables said. “Either way you’ve got to pay. So getting our guys, again, to think the right way. Those habits, what you do on the practice field, that’s game reality. So getting our guys, part of that mindset is developing a game rep mentality. When we go to that practice field that’s got to be our competitive advantage, how we do what we do. Everybody’s practicing. Everybody’s coaching football. How we do what we do has to be something that separates us. Our preparation, how we go about it, has got to separate us. So getting our guys to believe that. Again, you nurture it every day.”

Venables wants to inspire his guys with his example.

“When you’re passionate and you really believe something as a leader, that’s how you create buy-in,” he said. “So I want to motivate, I want to challenge, I want to inspire, I want to be a do-er and I want guys that are being about it, not talking about it. That’s how you play this game. You’ve got to be a do-er.”

That’s not to say there aren’t significant challenges and hurdles ahead of the SEC move.

One that Venables and his staff faced last year was an exodus of talent following the departure of former coach Lincoln Riley. Shoring up the roster and making sure talent retention is a focus are on the docket.

“From building the foundation the right way and you’re in lots of turnover on your roster, there’s a transfer portal, there’s a lot of instability from that standpoint,” Venables said. “So I’m looking for guys that are not takers, guys that want to be givers and guys that are going to be do-ers. That’s a very slippery slope that as we are encountering an environment that can be promoted to be more and more transactional, we want to be the exact opposite.

“We want to be relational, we want to be connected, we want to be committed to something that’s bigger than ourselves. So you’re looking for selfless guys that believe in being a great teammate and guys that believe in being a great leader. So you’re literally trying to recruit that, then once you have them here you’re developing that non-stop. Your leadership, your buy-in, your accountability, your selflessness, you have to nurture that and seek that each and every day.”