Oklahoma’s new deal with Brent Venables now has a price tag attached, and it is a steep one.
According to a contract obtained by SoonerScoop’s George Stoia, the extension that was approved last month by the Board of Regents would leave Oklahoma owing $51.67 million if the school decided to move on from Venables after the 2026 season. That buyout then drops by $10 million per year through 2030, when the figure falls to $5.83 million. After the 2031 season, it dips again to $830,000.
Venables locked in the extension after last season, when he guided the Sooners back to the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2019. The timing was later than usual in the coaching contract calendar, largely because athletic director Roger Denny did not take over until February.
“I give Brent a lot of credit that that conversation had started, but I got here and he gave me the grace and patience to get myself settled, spend some time together, get to know one another, get to know my bosses, start to figure out how we get those things through the system,” Denny told a group of local reporters before the season started.
“And we just stayed in contact on it and kept moving it along, first slowly and then here over the last couple of weeks pretty quickly.”
Oklahoma is 3-2 this season and has already had its share of heavyweight tests. The Sooners lost at Michigan in their return trip there and then fell at Georgia, but they bounced back with a 27-24 win over Texas in the Red River Rivalry last week.
That leaves Oklahoma in the SEC logjam of one-loss teams after the Texas victory. Entering Saturday’s game against Kentucky, the Sooners are 35-22 under Venables in his fifth season leading the program.
Four of those defeats have come in the postseason - three bowl losses and a defeat to Alabama in the 2025 College Football Playoff.
Oklahoma also extended general manager Jim Nagy over the offseason.
“The opportunity to really tie the core leadership of our program together and build a program around stability right now, when everything in our world seems to be around change, is a strategy that we’re going to lean into,” Denny said. “And I couldn’t be more confident in how those two guys work together and will build the future of our program.”
In Other News...
Oklahoma Heads Into Kentucky With A Protection Concern Fans Cant Ignore
Oklahomas offensive front is walking into the Kentucky game with more uncertainty than it would like this late in the week. Eddy Pierre-Louis and Parker Livingstone have both been downgraded to doubtful, while Michael Fasusi and Eli Bowen remain questionable, leaving the Sooners to juggle protection concerns at a time when every healthy body up front matters.
Several other players are already ruled out, so the margin for error is thin before kickoff. Kentucky is dealing with its own injury questions, including Tyler Thomas being out and running back CJ Baxter listed as questionable, but the spotlight for Oklahoma stays on how well it can hold up in the trenches if those availability issues linger into game day. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Has A Chance To Change Its Season Again Vs Kentucky
Oklahomas season has already lived through a few different versions of itself, and now comes another fork in the road with No. 15 Kentucky coming to town. The Sooners are unranked but favored by 6.5 points, which says plenty about how this matchup is being framed: not as a rescue mission, but as a chance to turn a good win into something bigger. John Mateer and Lloyd Avant are central to that equation, because Oklahoma will need enough production on offense to make Kentuckys defense feel the weight of the night.
A win here would not just add another quality result to the rsum. It could push Oklahoma back into the national conversation and make the College Football Playoff picture a little more realistic than it looked not long ago. Kentucky has already shown enough on defense to make this more than a simple home favorite spot, and that is what gives the game its edge for the Sooners. They have an opening to change the story again, but only if they take advantage of it against a ranked opponent that will make them earn every bit of it. [Read more 🡒]
Florida Just Seized Major Momentum In A Crowded 2027 Recruiting Race
A major 2027 recruiting shift rippled through the class on October 11 when Easton Royal, one of the top wide receiver prospects in the cycle, flipped his commitment from Texas to Florida. The move immediately altered the national picture, with Texas sliding from No. 6 to No. 9 in the Rivals recruiting rankings and Florida climbing from No. 8 to No. 5 as the early race keeps tightening.
For Oklahoma fans watching the broader SEC recruiting churn, it is another reminder that these rankings are still very much in flux. Rivals lists the board as provisional, and with more commitments and evaluations still ahead, the next wave of movement could be just as dramatic as this one. [Read more 🡒]