Insult, injury and rebranding of Oklahoma Football

As with love and politics, much can happen in the world of college football in one week’s time to completely alter the image of a program and the outlook for its future. The dark clouds created by actions of individuals may not pack the forthcoming gloom and doom they typically represent. Here along the Mother Road’s most football-obsessed stretch, we have had a classic example of that very sentiment. When one opportunist indulged in the business of the business and took a step up for himself by leaving to accept a higher dollar position elsewhere, opportunity presented for the collective he departed, and it took a huge step forward in the form of a monumental upgrade with a seasoned and battle-tested hire.

What will be remembered as the most cataclysmic ten days in Oklahoma Sooner Football in over a generation began with a disappointing evening in Stillwater. In a Bedlam showdown match the Sooners had many opportunities to prevail in, they came up short against the Cowboys, 37 to 33. Before the ink was barely dry on the state tabloids crowing the praises of Coach Mike Gundy’s victorious and Big 12 Championship-bound Oklahoma State team the following morning, the losing head coach of the night before was packing and preparing for his big move to greener pastures. Before his last defeat at the helm of OU was even eighteen hours old, it was announced that Lincoln Riley was on his way to take the head coaching job at the University of Southern California. This after Riley spent the previous week assuaging Sooner angst over rumors he would be departing for the open job at LSU. When it was learned that a few assistant coaches along with a few players on the current OU roster and a few prospective recruits would be following him to his announced destination, a universal episode of tizzy and woe spread throughout the Sooner Nation.

The seemingly catastrophic event that sent the OU collective reeling with visions of perpetual sub-mediocrity was fortunately disarmed early the following afternoon. The official announcement that former head coach Bob Stoops would step in to serve as interim head coach injected an immediate feeling of calm into all strata of Soonerland. Rumors were still flying all over social media as to who would be hired as the permanent head coach, but in the meantime Coach Stoops would prepare and lead the Team in the Sooners Alamo Bowl meeting with the Oregon Ducks.

Although many names came up in the rumor mill via OU message boards and talk radio about who would be the next to lead the Sooners back to the land of national championship contention, those in charge went with familiar faces. OU Athletic Director Joe Castiglione had his sites on one former defensive coach who has been well groomed for such a position as head coach. The name Brent Venables emerged as the likely favorite from all the oddsmakers. Brent Venables, who spent thirteen years on the OU sideline as defensive coordinator and co-defensive coordinator from 1999 to 2011 and the past ten seasons as the defensive coordinator for the Clemson Tigers, is no stranger to the concept that defense wins championships. He knows better than most as he has been a key member of three national championship team coaching staffs between OU and Clemson. Coach Venables arrived back in Norman Sunday evening a week after the departure of the guy he was going to be replacing. Indeed, the following day, December 6th, 2021, Brent Venables was introduced as the 23rd Head Football Coach of the University of Oklahoma.

Football is the big money sport at most collegiate institutions. It can be fairly stated that football is the economic engine that pulls the rest of the Athletic Department train, so to speak. Long gone are the old days when football was an extracurricular activity, an athletic endeavor by college students sort of likened to a recreational tail wagged by the academic dog. College football is now the badly hypertrophied tail that often seems to wag any academic institution any way it pleases. The recent Name, Image and Likeness rule implemented by the NCAA has completely altered the definition of what it means to be a “student athlete.” Let it be known, however, that college athletic departments thrive on donated money. ADs collected some $1.2 billion in 2015. It was also noted that only top schools receive the big donations. It is therefore imperative they have a head football coach who can deliver what the fan base demands; a perrenial winner of games, conference titles and national championships, or at very least be in contention for the latter two. This explains why a football coach is usually the highest paid state employee in most states with public universities that play football. Oklahoma is one of the leaders of that particular claim to fame and Brent Venables now holds the title of the highest paid state employee. Such is the culture that is uniquely American in 2021.

All members of the great Sooner Nation may now rest assured that a thorough and promising rebranding of Oklahoma Football has been instituted and the future, especially with the pending move to the Southeastern Conference, now appears to be quite bright. Coach Venables and the new Sooners will have an opportunity to address the insult of this season’s Bedlam loss next November 19th when the Cowboys visit the Palace on the Prairie.

An incumbent state senator has taken it upon himself to address the injury of the abrupt departure of the previous head coach via legislative action. Senator Bill Coleman (R-Ponca City) has introduced a bill to rename a whopping three inches of the westbound lane of Highway 325 on a desolate stretch in Cimarron County in the state’s panhandle, “Lincoln Riley Highway.” Let the record show that when it comes to defending the sacrosanct reputation of Oklahoma Sooner Football, nothing is too far over the top. The parting graphic though was a side-by-side photo of each of the new head coaches giving that hand signal of their respective new collectives. It became an instant classic. Boomer Sooner!