Brent Venables gives snappy response on decision to call Oklahoma defense

Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables knows how important 2025 is for the program. So, he’s not taking any chances and will be involved throughout the program, which includes calling the Oklahoma defense.

Venables was recently asked about this decision to call defensive plays. That earned a snappy response from the Sooners head coach.

“Why am I calling the defense? Because I’m good at it… I’ve acted like my job is on the line for 30 years,” Brent Venables said.

Oklahoma is coming off a difficult season. In their first season in the SEC, the Sooners went just 6-7 overall and 2-6 in SEC play. They’d make the Armed Forces Bowl, losing to Navy. Much of the team’s issues were on the offensive side of the ball, but an improved defense would have gone a long way for the Sooners. Oklahoma would finish the season 19th in total defense, giving up 318.2 yards per game. The Sooners were also 29th in scoring defense, giving up 21.5 points per game.

Certainly, Brent Venables has experience on the defensive side of the ball. Prior to coming to Oklahoma, he was the defensive coordinator at Clemson where he was considered one of the best in all of college football. Venables has also made a stop at Oklahoma as the defensive coordinator and at Kansas State as a defensive assistant.

Taking over defensive play calling is far from the only coaching change that Venables has made this offseason. At offensive coordinator, Oklahoma will have its fourth coach in the last three seasons. After Seth Littrell was fired in the middle of the 2024 season, he was replaced by Joe Jon Finley. Now, Venables is turning to Ben Arbuckle to help revive the offense. On top of that, Oklahoma also hired Jim Nagy of the Senior Bowl to be the program’s GM.

When he was asked why he wanted to go to Oklahoma, the answer was simple for Nagy. It’s a place you can win and he’ll have a close relationship with Venables in trying to do so.

“Coach Venables and I are working side-by-side,” Nagy said. “This is a true collaboration. It’s going to be a great fit. Again, if I would’ve went up to Norman and really not felt that from him, then I wouldn’t have accepted the role. But we’re going to be on the same page. The interview was great because I could feel his passion come out when we were talking about this thing. He’s so high-energy. He’s on the edge of his seat the whole time. We’re talking, then I got on the edge of my seat. We’re both ultra-competitive. So that’s going to be great. But yeah, we’re working in tandem.”

In his first three seasons at Oklahoma, Brent Venables has gone 22-17 with two seasons that ended with 6-7 records. So, finding the winning formula with this new look staff is going to be vital for the Sooners.