Aaron Murray believes Brent Venables’ job at Oklahoma is safe

The first year for Brent Venables at Oklahoma didn’t deliver the type of results that Sooners fans are used to. OU finished the season with a 6-7 record to mark the first time since 1998 and missed the Big 12 Championship Game for the second straight season after winning six straight conference titles from 2015-20.

Now entering his second year, Venables faces the task of turning things around in Oklahoma’s final season of Big 12 play before making the jump to the SEC in 2024. Former Georgia quarterback turned ESPN analyst Aaron Murray has faith that he will, adding that he expects the Sooners to keep Venables on at least through their first SEC season.

“I know Oklahoma had a little bit of a down year last year,” Murray said on the 3 and Out podcast with John Middlekauff. “You would expect Venables to kind of get that ship going in the right direction. They had a good recruiting class. …I think he will. I think they’ll give him three years. You don’t want to go into the SEC with a brand new coach either.

“It’s kind of like, do you want to go into the SEC with a brand new coach, you fire that one and then you get a mass exodus of players in the transfer portal and you’re kind of limping into the SEC? I’d rather give him one opportunity. Give him that third year to build and then see what he can do before you make a decision.”

Part of the reason that Oklahoma struggled so much this past season had to do with its defensive play. The Sooners ranked just 122nd our of 131 FBS teams in total defense and 99th in scoring defense. They gave up 40 or more points five times, including in an embarrassing 49-0 loss to rival Texas.

Venables, a former defensive coordinator at both Oklahoma and Clemson, brought in an impressive transfer class to make up for the defensive deficiencies. The class features players such as linebacker Dasan McCullough and defensive lineman Rondell Bothroyd, the No. 27 and No. 28 players in On3’s Transfer Portal Rankings. OU also signed the No. 7 recruiting class according to the On3 Industry Team Rankings.

All that in mind, Oklahoma is gearing up for a bounce back season in 2023. Murray went on to say he expects the Sooners, as well as Texas, to compete for a Big 12 title this season before both teams join the SEC next year.

“I do expect both teams to be contending for the Big 12 this year,” he said. “They’re just more talented than everyone else. But they’ve also been more talented and they haven’t proven it the past couple of years. We’ll see if they can get the ship right. But of anyone in the Big 12 or Pac-12 to make the transition right now, those would be two of four or five teams that I’d say if you bring them into the SEC right now, they could compete possibly Day 1.”

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