After Saturday’s three-hour team meeting, Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables left the facilities feeling “terrific” about its outcome.
His program had a “transparent and vulnerable” conversation following Venables’ team address on longtime receivers coach Cale Gundy’s resignation. Gundy announced his departure Sunday after reading a “racially charged” word multiple times in a meeting with his former unit.
Since Venables was announced as OU’s coach in late 2021, he has emphasized building a culture based on putting players first. Although Venables stated Oklahoma’s staff is stronger with Gundy on it, it was still in his players’ best interest to accept Gundy’s resignation.
“Sometimes through adversity, it causes those moments, where you’ve got to take a pause and you got to have that to continue to move forward as a program,” Venables said Wednesday. “And so, trying to find the good in a dark place and dark moment, I’ve seen a lot of encouraging signs from our guys.”
During his first spring practices with the team in March, Venables mentioned preparing for Murphy’s Law, an adage declaring “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and at the worst time.”
Venables mentioned recent events being one of the first difficult tasks of his tenure as a first-year head coach.
“We talked about Murphy’s Law one time, didn’t we?” Venables said. “So here it is. And this won’t be the last time there’s a crisis and issues you got to deal with head on. Nobody asked for this to happen, but from a cultural standpoint, how we respond, ultimately, it’s going to determine how we’re defined. From a cultural standpoint, I’m just continuing to… make decisions (on) what’s best for our guys (in) both short term and long term.”
Over the last week, former players such as Joe Mixon, Dede Westbrook, Ryan Broyles and current staff member Rufus Alexander have expressed their support of Gundy, who spent nearly 30 years as an assistant in Norman.
Despite Venables’ insistence on fostering relationships with former players, such as inviting any and all of them to the Sooners’ 2022 spring game, he said he realizes not all of his decisions, such as accepting Gundy’s resignation, will be accepted by the masses.
However, Venables said he understands staying true to his values is more important for the future of the culture he’s trying to build.
“Sometimes what’s best for them, they don’t like,” Venables said. “I’ve said that before as well. It’s called wisdom and judgment. How we got to this point aligns with the vision of the program and it’s difficult, and challenging and hurtful.”
During the 52-year-old’s nearly 30-year career, he has coached under legendary head coaches like Bill Snyder, Bob Stoops and Dabo Swinney, each of whom have made similar decisions and determined whether to allow second chances.
During Venables’ time as an OU assistant, he watched Stoops kick former blue-chip quarterback Rhett Bomar off the team in 2006 when he accepted payment for work he didn’t perform, then lied about it. . He was also at Clemson when Swinney decided to not reprimand assistant Danny Pearman, despite Pearman saying a racial slur during a practice in 2017.
Venables offered insight about how he personally makes such decisions in light of the Gundy incident.
“You do some on instinct (and) you can make a lot of decisions based on what your values are,” he said. “Things that are a part of your foundation. And if that’s opposite of your values, you make decisions that way. And then forgiveness, I think grace is a good thing. And there’s some things that deserve it more than others. Everybody’s different in how they view things.”
On Wednesday, Venables revealed strong confidence in interim receivers coach L’Damian Washington, who will command Oklahoma’s unit for the time being. And as fall camp is underway, adding a permanent replacement isn’t likely, meaning Washington will probably finish the season in the position.
Despite the challenging timing of the situation, Venables maintains belief his team is still in a solid position as it prepares for its season opener against UTEP on Sept. 3.
“From a timing standpoint, this is certainly not ideal,” Venables said. “So it’s certainly my job, our jobs, as leaders to help our young people focus. And so, I’ve always felt that’s a very easy thing for me.
“But, jumping right in, we’re in the middle of fall camp, and I think we’ve hit it head on with our guys (as) open, honest, transparent the whole time. And I think we’re not in a good place, we’re in a great place all considered.”
