Roger Denny may be smarter than all of us, but I doubt it and you should, too.
Since taking over for Joe Castiglione as Oklahoma athletics director in mid-February, he’s made two big decisions. Well, maybe more, but two he’ll be judged by, two he’ll answer for until he makes others of similar import, two Sooner Nation will return to when it asks, “Hmm, what kind of a job is that Denny guy doing.”
The first arrived in March, when he saluted Porter Moser for coaching a team that performed beyond the resources it was given, rather than firing him for being the worst Sooner men’s hoops skipper in more than half a century, who’s reached the NCAA tournament once in five seasons, whose conference record after three seasons in the Big 12 and two in the SEC is 32-56.
At the time, Denny invoked the “underdog spirit” that had long spurred Sooner sports to greatness, thus proving he knew nothing about the history and culture of the athletics department he’s now running.
The second one came, it appears, some time ago, though terms may not have been agreed upon until recently and the headline did not arrive until Thursday.
That is, two more years have been added to Brent Venables’ contract as Sooner football coach, making him good to go through the 2031 season, with an annual reported salary of $10.5 million.
Nothing’s official until approved by the regents, but if the salary figure holds up and other coaches don’t sign up for more in the interim, Venables will become the 11th highest paid coach in the nation behind Oregon’s Dan Lanning, who makes $10.6 million.
For the record, the spots above them belong to Georgia’s Kirby Smart ($13.3M), Indiana’s Curt Cignetti ($13.2M), LSU’s Lane Kiffin ($13M), Ohio State’s Ryan Day ($12.6M), Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer ($12.5M), Southern Cal’s Lincoln Riley ($11.5M), Clemson’s Dabo Swinney ($11.5M), Texas’ Steve Sarkisian ($11.1M) and Texas A&M’s Mike Elko ($10.8M).
Denny, who doesn’t lack certainty even when wrong — see Moser — has his reasons.
“I’ve had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with coach Venables, his staff and our student-athletes,” he said in the story OU released on its athletics website. “It didn’t take long to see how well suited he is to lead Oklahoma football. Coach Venables is elite at building culture, not just in the locker room, but throughout the entire program.
“Our players are drawn to him. They trust him, they believe in him and he has a unique ability to connect with young men and bring out the best in them. What I hope this extension says to our players is that in an environment that changes every day, we’re investing in stability for our program.”
Great.
Terrific.
Stability is indeed a very good thing in the midst of so much surrounding instability. Score one for Roger.
Of course, unless the buyout, which remains unknown, is a fraction of the contract’s value — an apparent $63 million — it’s a terrible decision on its face.
Let us now enter the numbers portion of this exercise.
Since 1937, nine different Sooner football coaches have spent at least four seasons on the job, and here they are, along with their records and winning percentages over their first four seasons, the same number of seasons Venables has already coached the Sooners.
• Thomas E. Stidham (1937-40), 27-8-3, .750
• Dewey Luster (1941-45), 22-13-3, .579
• Bud Wilkinson (1947-63), 38-4-1, .884
• Chuck Fairbanks (1967-72), 30-13-1, .682
• Barry Switzer (1973-88), 41-3-2, .891
• Gary Gibbs (1989-94), 29-14-2, .644
• Bob Stoops (1999-16), 43-9, .827
• Lincoln Riley (2017-21), 45-8, .849
• Brent Venables (2022-26), 32-20, .615
It’s more staggering than I figured before looking it up.
But for Dewey “Snorter” Luster — funny nicknames were once required to hold such positions — Venables has the worst four-season winning percentage of any Sooner football coach who wasn’t an abject failure or didn’t die going back 90 years. And when did being better than Gomer Jones, Howard Schnellenberger or John Blake become reason to reward a coach as though he’s a Wilkinson, Switzer or Stoops?
Yes, it’s a brand new world, and yes, Venables appears to have a great working relationship with general manager Jim Nagy, and yes, there appears to be a seamlessness in place as the Sooners redefine the coaching and administrative model for college football, an achievement whose credit belongs to Castiglione rather than Denny.
Simultaneously, since landing at Max Westheimer Airport, surrounded by friends, fans and The Pride of Oklahoma, Venables has recorded two losing seasons, is on his third defensive coordinator, who happens to be himself, and his fourth offensive coordinator, Ben Arbuckle, who still has much to prove.
Then there’s the buyout.
We don’t know what it is, but we know what it used to be, and it used to be 100 percent of the contract.
If it were to remain 100 percent of the contract, and, say, Venables were to turn in an additional two losing seasons, back to back, under his original deal, he would have been owed about $17.4 million to go away following the 2027 season.
Under the one about to be approved, if the salary figure is accurate and the old terms of the buyout remain in place, Venables would be owed around $42 million to go away following the 2027 season, which is insane.
“We’re in this place in our industry where literally the second we come out and demonstrate a commitment to a coach, everyone wants to know what it costs to fire him. What are we doing?” SoonerScoop’s George Stoia reported Denny to have said during a meeting with reporters on Tuesday. “If that was on our mind, we wouldn’t be signing this contract.”
Only it’s Denny’s job for it to be on his mind, especially given the biggest reason Venables kept his job following the 2024 season was the gargantuan cost of his old buyout, part of the contract about to be torn up for a new one.
Is OU thinking he might bolt?
It shouldn’t.
Venables spent 20 years saying no to head-coaching opportunities before OU decided it wanted him back. He already has the only job he wants, so why not wait to be more certain he’s figured things out?
“I don’t need to see this season to know what we’ve got,” Denny told Stoia.
Does he even hear himself?
Not good.
Venables could become an all-timer. He could win SEC crowns. OU could run off three national championships in the next five or six years. It could own the game again like it owned it in the mid-70s. But it won’t make Denny right. Given every fact in evidence, he’s jumped the gun and put millions, maybe tens of millions, more at risk.
He’s 0 for 2.
Hoping his coaches will bail him out.