Brent Venables opens up on what makes Oklahoma's football program so special

Brent Venables waited his turn for a head coaching gig, and he knows he got a special opportunity to return to Norman to lead the Oklahoma Sooners.

While it was an uneven first season on the job for Venables, he’s focused on getting back to the standard for the program he knows and loves, especially with a move to the SEC looming large. Still, Oklahoma is ready and roaring to make some noise in the Big 12 over next season, success and hunger on the mind.

Joining On3’s JD PicKell, Venables spoke about what makes the Oklahoma program so special, highlighting the team’s raucous fanbase as a huge reason why.

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“It’s a very connected place. The fanbase takes a backseat to nobody. High expectations, high standards. Across the whole university community, there’s been excellence, in all the different sports, mens and women’s. It’s very close, from a relationship standpoint, a very family-oriented community. Safe, great diversity. It’s a great college town. 120,000 people. Oklahoma City just down the road, that has a million-plus people in the metropolitan area,” explained Venables. “Our stadium, since I think 2000, we have the best winning percentage in all of college football. The people show up, and they love their Sooners. There’s no resource, there’s nothing that Oklahoma lacks when it comes to supporting big-time college football.

“So if you’re a traditionalist, and you like a college town, where everything is centered around the university, this is as good as it gets.”

Moreover, the aforementioned highlights of the Oklahoma area has helped Venables bring in an impressive recruiting class this offseason, with the No. 7 ranked class in the nation and No. 2 in the Big 12 conference according to On3’s Industry Rankings.

His 2022 class consists of three five-star recruits and 12 impressive transfer portal acquisitions, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on if their move to the SEC was also a motivating factor in the recruiting process.

“It’s hard to say what the percentage is, most I would say 90 plus percent of the guys have a very good awareness that Oklahoma is going to the SEC,” Venables said. “Many of them didn’t know which exact year now that that’s been all worked out. So it plays a part in the process no doubt.”

Nevertheless, the future is bright in Norman under Brent Venables watch, as the Sooners figure to be a big time player in college football moving forward.