Things are going a little off the place for Oklahoma Sooners and Brent Venables, and his seat is getting hotter each day. After a critical season in 2024 and a lackluster recruitment momentum heading into the next. The former Clemson and Oklahoma Coordinator was called back to Norman with a lofty expectation to hone the program to compete in the toughest conference, SEC, after Lincoln Riley left the building with the USC papers in his hand. Venables’ illustrated history and the fresh tempo looked a great fit for the Sooners’ rebounding hope. But what did they receive instead?

A dwindling growth under his leadership quite brought back the ghost of John Blake years in the late nineties. The program just went through its second lost season in the last three years. To add to your nightmare, the humiliating 6-7 mark can even get worse before they get better at Norman.

Brent Venables received stern reality checks ahead of a tougher battle

2025 is going to be a do-or-die year for Brent Venables and the Sooners, and it’s needless to say that the situation doesn’t look very favorable for the head coach. The program has recently lost its play caller, Zac Alley, as he left for West Virginia for the same role. And guess that Venables didn’t appoint another to fill his shoes. Rather, he himself assumed full control of the defensive playcalling responsibilities for the first time since his arrival.

It was a trademark and debatable decision at the same time after he narrowly escaped a firing last year. ‘‘Oklahoma’s always seemed to pull kids out from there, but yeah, it’s a big year for Brent Venables. I mean, the win over Alabama last year certainly was, I don’t want to say job saver, but it felt that way right like that got him to six wins,”  SEC insider Brian Smith put it out straight. A stunning 24-3 against the Tide came off as a prestige win for the Sooners, marking their first SEC home victory of the season. But if Venables would have called the defensive plays, would it get any better concerning the other slips? The question is up for a heated argument, but fans didn’t wait for it to be resolved and jumped on throwing flakes for the coaches’ playcalling decision.

Again, referencing the trouble upon the trouble, Chris Gordy chimed in, ”I do think he has got to hit the ground running this year and it still is a tough schedule, you know, Oklahoma got the tougher draw, and then this year, with the schedule, they kept all the opponents the same, they just flipped home and away. Okay, well now, Oklahoma hosted Alabama last year, now they gotta go to Alabama. They went to LSU last year. Now, they gotta host LSU. I mean, it’s just like the schedule didn’t get any easier, it’s still tough opponents.” Venables only managed to tackle well two SEC games in the last year. Josh Pate also agreed that they are heading toward a bigger, tougher battle this time. So, the chance to succeed is technically slim as long as the coach doesn’t take a drastic step.

But at the same time, Pate didn’t see a point in sympathizing with the Sooners or Venables as he thought getting into a quality conference like SEC essentially means you represent the part that makes it tough and not supposed to get victimized by it.

However, they are not alone in rubbing salt into the beleaguered head coach’s woes. Paul Finebaum, the renowned Fox analyst, also did his part.

Brent Venables’ buyout reality might make his status at Norman more pathetic 

Paul is widely known for his no-nonsense take on any tricky ball game in the college football world. He never hesitated to put it just like how it is without any filter. On the latest episode of “The Paul Finebaum Show, the SEC Network analyst said that if Venables doesn’t improve next season, this could be the end of his career in Norman. ‘‘I wouldn’t press my luck with another one,” Paul referred to the two horrible seasons of Venables at Norman and left no crumbs.

Yes, now you will question how the Sooners will bear the elephant buyout money to let the current head coach go. Well, there also comes another loophole against Venables’ future.

Some speculated that Brent Venables firing won’t be a farfetched reality anymore after the 2024 season. He had a substantial buyout of $44.8 million. After the 2025 season, this amount decreases to $34.9 million, but it remains significant. Following that, the buyout keeps on decreasing by about $9 million each season until 2029. Will Brent Venables be better off finding another suitable job this off-season or focusing on quite an unprecedented goal of a comeback? Let us know your thoughts.