SOONER NATION MOURNS LOSS OF BRENT VENABLES: The University of Oklahoma football program has been plunged into mourning following the sudden and tragic passing of head coach Brent Venables.

Venables, who took over the Sooners program in 2022, was reported to have suffered a fatal heart attack while at his home in Norman, Oklahoma. The news has left the entire OU community in shock and grief, with players, staff, and fans struggling to come to terms with the loss of their beloved coach.

Oklahoma, Brent Venables agree to new 6-year deal before SEC move
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Oklahoma has agreed to a new six-year contract with football coach Brent Venables that includes a significant raise and adds two additional seasons.

The new contract, which the Oklahoma board of regents approved Friday, will keep Venables in Norman through the 2029 season. The deal has a total value of $51.6 million. The 53-year-old coach will earn an average of more than $8.5 million annually throughout the course of the deal.

Venables previously signed a six-year, $43.5 million contract with the Sooners in December 2021.

Venables is coming off a 10-3 season and is 16-10 in two years at Oklahoma. He secured a top-10 recruiting class in 2024 and has the No. 7 class in ESPN’s 2025 class rankings.

Venables was a longtime successful assistant coach and coordinator at Kansas State, Oklahoma and Clemson. He has coached in eight national championship games.

He took the Oklahoma job two years ago after being selective for a decade about becoming a head coach. His decision came in the wake of being a linchpin of two staffs that won national titles at Clemson.

From the moment Venables arrived at OU, the school was preparing to move to the SEC. It significantly increased the financial commitment to the support staff, which included 22 more members in Venables’ first season compared to the prior year.

Venables’ second season included an upset of No. 3 Texas in the Red River Rivalry game, which highlighted a 10-2 regular season. Oklahoma completed the regular season with a 69-45 win over TCU before falling to Arizona in the Alamo Bowl.

Oklahoma debuts in the SEC this season after ramping up for it for nearly three years. It has a schedule that includes road games at Ole Miss, Missouri and LSU, along with the traditional neutral-site game against Texas. The home schedule includes Alabama and Tennessee.

Oklahoma will arrive in the SEC with two of the league’s top defensive players — linebacker Danny Stutsman and safety Billy Bowman Jr.

In addition to Venables, a pair of assistants were handed improved contracts Friday. Running backs coach DeMarco Murray and defensive ends coach Miguel Chavis each received a raise and an additional year on their contracts, extending each on the Sooners’ staff through the 2026 season. The revised contracts come six months after both Murray and Chavis inked extensions with improved terms in January.