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Texas007

By Texas007
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Trojan Man
Trojan Man

I was banned from commenting on The Athletic a few months ago because I called an OU fan a fucking dumbass for insisting Muschamp 2.0 would be an improvement over Riley.  The jilted ex-girlfriends hav

closetojumping
closetojumping

OU has absurd injury issues at this point.  -They lost Dolby (cheetah starter, kind of like a bad version of Barron) for the season and maybe ever with a dislocated ankle. -Burks left the ga

Longboard Horn
Longboard Horn

THIS HAS AGED WONDERFULLY! 

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LTtxfan

LTtxfan 48681

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Posted

The next hire Brent Venables makes will be the biggest of his career

Venables will bet his career on his next offensive coordinator hire. Here are some important factors to consider, and pivotal questions Venables must answer.

Zach Barnett      1 hour ago

Days after proclaiming he was not a fan of mid-season coaching changes, Brent Venables made a midseason coaching change, firing offensive coordinator Seth Littrell on Sunday. He had no other choice, really. At a program that invented and/or perfect multiple iterations of offensive football, Oklahoma is third-from-the-bottom in FBS in yards per play and not getting better. South Carolina 35, Oklahoma 9 was somehow worse than Texas 34, Oklahoma 3, and so something had to change.

Let's set a lay of the land as Venables embarks on the biggest decision of his professional career.  

The existing staff: Sunday's announcement will almost certainly be just the first of many changes once this season ends. Joe Jon Finley -- like Littrell and running backs coach DeMarco Murray, a former Sooner himself -- is now the sole offensive coordinator, but tight end is arguably the worst position on the offense, and thus seems unlikely to return to Oklahoma in 2025. 

The biggest decision for Venables will be offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh. In his 12th season as OU's offensive line coach, Bedenbaugh has had a hand in countless yards, points and championships in Norman, and led by 5-star Michael Fasusi and top-100 recruit Ryan Fodje, offensive line is the strength of Oklahoma's 11th-ranked recruiting class. 

At the same time, Oklahoma's offensive line is a mishmash of portal players and home-grown recruits that clears the way for Power 4's lowest-producing offense. Letting Bedenbaugh go is a risk, but at this point the results on the field say so is keeping him.

Former Indiana and Duke offensive coordinator Kevin Johns is also on staff and was elevated from an analyst to co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach upon Littrell's dismissal. Venables said Monday night that Johns had been primarily focused on advance scouting, but will now shift duties in his new role. 

The stakes: Venables is 20-13 at OU, but just 11-11 in conference play. At 4-3 on the season, the Sooners will be underdogs at No. 18 Ole Miss (Saturday), at No. 21 Missouri (Nov. 9), versus No. 15 Alabama (Nov. 23) and at No. 8 LSU (Nov. 30). Assuming a win over Maine, Oklahoma will need to beat a ranked team to avoid missing a bowl game for the first time since 1998.

Barring an unforeseen turnaround, Venables will be coaching for his job in 2025.

The pitch: The statement above about Oklahoma inventing/perfecting offensive football was not hyperbole. OU conquered the sport in the 1950s behind Bud Wilkinson's split-T, dominated the 1970s and 80s via the Wishbone, then returned to the forefront in the 2000s by pioneering the Air Raid. When the program hit a lull in the mid-2010s, Lincoln Riley reinvigorated the program by scoring more points than anyone for seven solid seasons.

Beginning with Mike Leach in 1999 and running through Jeff Lebby last season, eight OU offensive coordinators went on to FBS head coaching jobs. If such a thing as destination offensive coordinator jobs exist, OU's is one. A successful candidate will make lots of money, earn the adulation of one of college football's proudest fan bases, and have his pick of Power 4 head coaching jobs in due time.

The risk: An unsuccessful candidate, and even a not-instantly-and-spectacularly-successful candidate, will be looking for a new place to coach in 2026.

The path forward: There are a million ways to skin this cat, but if I'm Venables these are my priorities, in order.

1) Secure Jackson Arnold's commitment to the program. 😋

Arnold was a 5-star recruit and OU's opening-day starter for a reason. He's the most talented quarterback in the program, and early returns show us that investing what it takes to bring in a blue-chip transfer is too big a risk at this point in time. More here below.

2) Call Dabo, Chad Morris, Tony Elliott and Jeff Scott.

Venables has spent his entire career in three places: his alma mater Kansas State (1993-98), Oklahoma (1999-2011, 2022-present) and Clemson (2012-21). That's great for raising a family and building a philosophical bedrock, but not great for building a diverse network of former colleagues. Given that he just fired Littrell and will likely have to do the same to other former Sooner(s), Venables is not dipping back in the crimson well for his next hire. At the same time, Venables would likely be hesitant to hand the keys to his own future at the biggest job he'll ever have to a complete stranger.

The Clemson years were a successful marriage of his defensive philosophy and explosive offense, so I'm using the brain trust of those teams as my launch point into the candidate pool.

3) Beg, borrow and steal my way into a successful offensive line portal class.

Even as pissed as they undoubtedly are, the money men behind OU's NIL efforts undoubtedly understand that the cheapest and most pragmatic path to restoring Sooner football is making the current regime work. With that established, I'm taking meetings, calling in favors and even opening up high-interest credit cards toward getting, minimum, three Honorable Mention All-SEC caliber linemen at a minimum. 

That's obviously easier said than done, but Plans A, B and C are long gone by now. Resources are finite, so I'm better off keeping Arnold and stretching my dollar across multiple linemen rather than paying what it takes for an A-list QB and hoping a competent offensive line materializes in front of him. If I can hire a coordinator and/or O-line coach who has, ahem, special access to linemen who might end up at Oklahoma if certain hires are made, all the better.

4) Digest the magnitude of the situation and decide which level of uncertainty I'm willing to risk my tenure on.

If the 2025 season goes like the current one, Venables will not be Oklahoma's head coach in 2026. Given those stakes, do I hire someone like a Kade Bell, who was coaching in the Southern Conference as recently as 2023, but who would come with his own system and offensive line coach (Jeremy Darveau followed Bell from Western Carolina to Pitt), and bet that their experience will scale up to the SEC?

Washington State's Ben Arbuckle, all of 29 years old, has four years of FBS experience. South Alabama's Rob Ezell is in his first season as a coordinator and a quarterbacks coach. Many of the hot young names tossed around either A) haven't called plays, B) if they have called plays, have done so under an offensive-minded head coach whose system they are running, or C) haven't coached quarterbacks. 

At the same time, what established, career offensive coordinator is leaving his secure gig for Oklahoma's situation right now?

A middle-ground name to keep an eye on is Tulane's Joe Craddock. Craddock, 39, was a GA for two years while Venables was at Clemson, then spent five years under Morris at SMU and Arkansas. He's now in his third year as the coordinator and quarterbacks coach under a defensive-minded head coach in Jon Sumrall. 

It's too early to seriously discuss names now, though. Venables's mind is on beating Ole Miss and preventing his third Oklahoma season from devolving even further. 

After that, Venables will have to decide what level of risk and uncertainty he's comfortable betting his Oklahoma future on. Once he's made that decision, then the OU coordinator search will be on.

 

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ousux

ousux 5565

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I'll tell you about OU

It seems they're headed down the same path we traveled after shitcanning MB.

Of course since they're in the SEC instead of Rig12 recruiting won't suffer like ours did. That may or may not mean wandering the wilderness as long as we did, but the weekly competition is better in the SEC as well, no in season scrimmages.

Really it depends on VB's hire at OC panning out. Not just in X's and 0's, but building momentum in recruiting as well.

I wish all of them the worst luck possible, we need at least a decade of dominance in Dallas so they can't close the W/L gap of the historic series.

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John Coctostan

John Coctostan 589

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10 minutes ago, kevwun said:

Yes, he should definitely bring Arnold back for another year.  That's a really good plan.  He should also consider consider legally changing his first name to Charlie.

That was good for a laugh. As was the idea that they could buy a good OL in the portal.

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BigHornedLurker

BigHornedLurker 1878

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I'm really hoping they face the same spot where no proven OC worth a shit is going to take the risk of trying to deal with a hot coach on a hot seat, some unknown outgoing transfers trying to find better homes, questions marks a shit ass QB , a shit ass oline and 6 months to fix the world before season kickoff just to be highly likely of looking for a new job again in another 6 months 

 

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kevwun

kevwun 15131

Posted
Posted (edited)

I just hope he survives the rest of the season and gets another year.  They are in line for several more ass kickings and Castiglione has never been stupid.  There is no real reason to believe Venables is gonna fix things and he may just decide to cut bait and not waste another season.

Edited by kevwun
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kilroydos

kilroydos 266

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3 hours ago, statsman said:

There is also the continued fascination with Cale Gundy to rescue the program. 

It makes zero sense.  He was always a plus recruiter and a reliable position coach at both RB and WR, but never called plays, never showed any propensity for design or theory, and couldn't keep himself from doing something dumb and getting fired.  That's who you want back in the building?  If he were a lights-out QB guru or a Leach-style innovator, maybe I could see talking yourself into it, but come on.

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statsman

statsman 5352

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Another odd phenomena on the Sooner boards is their reaction to Deion Burks, a portal WR from Purdue. What we know:

1. Burkes was a solid starter at Purdue with good, not great production. 
2. OU committed significant (to them) NIL towards signing him. 
3. He shone in their pre season drills. 
4. As a starter in the first few games, he was clearly their top receiver, but with less than 10 yards per reception. 
5. he got hurt mid-season, with some soft tissue injury, and has not returned yet. 
 
Their fanbase has swung like a pendulum between “Burks is an all time offensive threat, the kind that makes an offense go” to “Burks is a malingerer that has quit on the team and is only hanging around for that sweet, sweet Okie NIL before getting drafted”

I think, most likely, Burks is a good player that, with a healthy season of good production, could go late in the draft (5th to 7th). He ain’t CeeDee Lamb or even Marvin Mims. If he entered the draft after not playing the rest of the season with good production, he is on track for UFA. Is that wrong?

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Longboard Horn

Longboard Horn 39796

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Glad to finally see them fall flat on their faces after all those years of dominating the Big 12. All those OU coworkers and folks from my high school that are alumni used to poke fun at us during the 2010s. Well now the tables have finally turned and they keep their fucking mouths shut and can't talk any shit. I hope to see them wander the wasteland for a dozen years like we did. Hell, idgaf if they never recover or win another football conference title. It doesn't feel so good does it sooner idiots? 

We seriously owe Lincoln Riley a big thank you gift. The collapse truly started after he lost to Okie Lite, missed the Big 12 title game in 2021, took the USC job and took his staff, including Caleb and the impact players with him. Vegetables first season was a Charlie season as he went 6-7 and had the leftovers. Most of them transferred out. OU then had a gleam of hope when they got 10 wins in year 2 with Dillon Gabriel(who isn't that bad of a QB) and upset us at the last second of Red River. However that season was pure luck. They should have lost to us, UCF and BYU if not for that pick 6 and finished 7-5. And then Gabriel thinks about leaving once Lebby took the klan aggy job and Vegetables shows him the door to make them irrelevant again with no good QB. So in a way we need to send a big golden penis thank you trophy to Brent for helping us out with his epic fuck ups. And he won't be around to see that 6 year contract extension. My best guess is he'll get shit canned after next season. 

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Pokoloco

Pokoloco 1234

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On 10/26/2024 at 8:55 PM, NoName said:

Somehow there is a worst stat than that one.

 

 

And the local news hacks are looking at a double digit loss as a positive because they managed to score 14 pts.

When they destroy Maine this week, they'll be talking about playoff scenarios. 

 

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