Wednesday morning was not like a typical OU Board of Regents meeting.
Chairman Rick Nagel spoke on OU football head coach Brent Venables’ job security in his opening remarks, though he rarely comments on athletics at all.
"The board doesn’t typically comment much on what’s going on in the athletic department,” Nagel said. “That’s maybe a smart thing. But I want to say this: … our head coach, Brent Venables, is not on the hot seat. There is no hot seat as far as the board is concerned; we just extended his contract.”
Venables agreed to a six-year, $63 million deal in August, which the regents approved in September.
The Sooners finished 6-7, 10-3, 6-7 and 10-3 under Venables in 2022-25, extending his contract after a College Football Playoff appearance last season. They are currently 5-4 in 2026.
Throughout this season, the program has faced growing scrutiny, and Nagel wanted to shut that down.
“I just feel like there’s been too much noise around the football program, …” Nagel said. “We feel like he's the right guy. So it's been interesting to us, as the board, that that renewal of that contract alone wasn't a signal that he's here for a long time. So we just felt like, today, it made sense to go ahead and just make that crystal clear to the public that we've got the right guy, and we are excited about where the program is headed.”
Nagel, OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. and athletic director Roger Denny addressed other notable areas of the football program when speaking with a small group of local reporters after the meeting.
Offensive coordinator search
Venables will be hiring his fourth full-time offensive coordinator in the offseason, and it is vital he finds success with the next one.
Jeff Lebby was OU’s offensive offensive coordinator in 2022-23, helping OU rank No. 3 in points per game in 2023. Lebby left in 2024 to be Mississippi State’s head coach, and Seth Littrell stepped in as OU’s offensive coordinator. Littrell was fired seven games into 2024 after a 4-3 start. Ben Arbuckle faced a similar fate in 2026, being let go after a 4-4 record eight games into the season.
Nagel made clear that the regents will be giving Venables full autonomy as to who will be OU’s offensive coordinator in 2027.
“Our job is to give those guys the resources and to kind of get out of the way and let them go do their thing,” Nagel said. “Same way we're not getting involved with who Dr. (Robert) Mannel hires at Stevenson Cancer to help us figure out ways to cure cancers. We're not talking to the provost at an in-depth level about who he's bringing into the math department to teach calculus. We let the pros do their job. Otherwise, it becomes really messy.”
Harroz added that he is not very involved with hiring in athletics.
“One thing you have to know is what your expertise is and what it's not,” Harroz said. “And when it comes to a head coach component, there'll be some conversations with me. But when (former athletic director) Joe Castiglione did it over the years, you hire an athletic director for their expertise in these spaces with the right data and consultants. If you're a university president and you're putting yourself in the mix on those decisions, you don't understand the environment, and that's an ego play. That's not an expertise play.”
Denny will be supporting Venables in the search for the next offensive coordinator, along with deputy athletic director Mark Taurisani and OU football general manager Jim Nagy. Taurisani joined OU in May 2026 after working with Denny in Illinois as the Illini football program’s chief of staff. Nagy, a former NFL scout, joined OU in February 2025.
“It's a support role,” Denny said. “Be there to to be an ear for Brent and talk through things with Brent, understand what level of commitment that whatever decision we make is going to require but also make sure the rest of our football leadership, whether that's Mark Taurisani or Jim Nagy or otherwise, … (is) all aligned on this.”
Denny said that interim offensive coordinator Jason Witten is not out of the running for the full-time job, either. He has impressed Venables and Denny with his leadership and play-calling, which was put on display in a 23-7 win over Florida last weekend.
“He's a pro, …” Denny said. “Previously, he was coaching his position group. Now the way he's working with the entire offense is just reaffirming all the things that we really thought we knew about Jason for the first few months on the job. We're seeing it in spades now.”
