Two weeks. It’s only been two weeks, but it might feel like forever to some Oklahoma fans and not nearly enough time to others.
It was just two weeks ago when former head coach Lincoln Riley left the Sooners to take over at USC, and it’s now been a week since Brent Venables has returned to Norman take over the program.
As Venables continues to complete his staff and things trending in the right direction regarding that matter, it’s time to look back at a wild and wacky roller coaster ride that was.
‘I’m not going to be the head coach at LSU’
In the hours and days leading up to Bedlam at Oklahoma State, the whispers were turning into something more about Riley leaving OU to become the head coach at LSU.
After a gut-wrenching 37-33 defeat to the Cowboys, it was time to bring it up. Or at least attempt to get some answers.
“Hold up, hold up, hold up, Carey,” said Riley, not allowing the question to be fully asked. “I’m not going to be the next head coach at LSU. Next question.”
The next question centered on the state of the program and the direction it is taking as OU prepares to enter the SEC in the near future.
Rumors were swirling about Riley not believing the administration was fully understanding what is about to happen once OU is officially recruiting and playing against the big boys of the SEC.
“No concerns about our administration, our AD, our president. We’ve been through a lot together. This isn’t our first rodeo together,” Riley said. “We always have conversations about the future and certainly with all that’s getting ready to… that’s changing right now in the college landscape, all that’s getting ready to change for us as at some point here we transition into a new conference, those are always conversations that we’re going to have and we would be having those yearly no matter what.
“All of us are trying to make this place better and make this program better. You don’t do that without working together, conversing with each other, so of course we’re going to continue to do that. We work well together and we’re going to continue to work well together.”
OU finished the regular season 10-2 without a chance to win its seventh consecutive Big 12 title and all eyes were going to turn toward recruiting.
‘Not be surprised if USC took a big swing’
LSU now an afterthought, but Riley wasn’t out of the news. The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman with a mini-bombshell the following morning, insinuating USC was coming hard for Riley.
It was brushed off, initially, but just three hours later, it all happened.
Just like that, Riley was gone.
An incredibly brief team meeting was held where Riley addressed the team. Bob Stoops and athletic director Joe Castiglione were in attendance as well.
OU football was about to change.
‘They are OU football’
The shocking announcement led to even more surprises the following Monday morning. Riley wasn’t going to Los Angeles alone, taking defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, outside receivers coach Dennis Simmons, director of operations Clarke Stroud and strength and conditioning coach Bennie Wylie.
A gut-punch.
But there was Stoops not trying to play savior, but sort of ending up that way. Stoops delivered a message with the type of infectious passion and enthusiasm that had woke OU fans up out of their doldrums.
“All you fans, and again, player parents, everyone, just understand, give it a little bit of time and you're going to see, this is just a little bump in the road,” Stoops said. “There's not one guy, one person in the history of this program that's bigger than the program, coach Switzer, myself, or Lincoln Riley. And what I told the players is, they are the program, players throughout these decades, they are OU football, not us as a coach.
“Those players are the ones who are OU football. They'll stick together, they stick together, they'll continue to be OU football, championship football the way we're used to playing it. And I look forward to doing everything that I can here in these next few weeks to help it continue to succeed the way it has.”
The coaching search was on. And Castiglione left everybody with a little nugget to get everything started.
“I’ve already engaged in the process to review those people that I had identified,” Castiglione said. “Some times in the process, you go along and some other candidates may present themselves that you may not have thought had been possible.”
Heard from a brother’s friend’s uncle’s that…
The wild and wacky hit a new level from Tuesday-Saturday of that week. With all eyes on Venables, who was the defensive coordinator at Clemson, the longer it went, the more bizarre and absurd the stories started to become.
The first name was Matt Rhule. After it felt like Venables should have been announced but wasn’t, Rhule became a hot name for a few hours on Wednesday.
The logic became Rhule, head coach of the Carolina Panthers, would bring offensive coordinator Joe Brady with him to Norman.
It picked up a lot of steam before being debunked. Back to the drawing board.
Then you wanna get weird? Let’s do it. OU was looking at Clemson, but maybe we’re targeting the wrong Clemson name. What if it’s Dabo Swinney and not Brent Venables?
It sounded ludicrous at the time, sounds that way now and always will, but a half second, maybe there was a 0.1 percent chance of happening?
The Swinney news then brought about any and everything, most notably a rumor that Drake was going to be at OU to perform a concert when Swinney was announced as head coach.
Venables was still on the peripheral, Swinney rumors were for anybody who wanted to believe, but the weekend saw a shift to two actual candidates in Baylor head coach Dave Aranda and Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning.
The Aranda possibility reached a point where a source said Baylor assistant coaches were job searching because they had believed Aranda was coming to Norman.
It even reached a time on Saturday evening when there was a premature report saying Lanning was indeed the head coach of the Sooners.
For the sanity of all involved, name the coach, ha.
‘It doesn’t get any better than this’
We woke up Sunday morning, and finally, some clarity. Sometimes the obvious choice can still be the right choice.
It was Venables, time to make it happen.
The afternoon was full of flight tracking and watching a flight just stuck in South Carolina for what felt like hours and hours.
But eventually, it took to the air and was coming to Norman. Venables and his family was coming, too. After 10 years away from the program, he was back.
Nobody will forget the scene if they were there about watching the plane land around 10 p.m. Or watching Venables not miss a beat with ‘Boomer Sooner’ with his first steps off the plane.
Or the way he addressed the thousands of OU fans who were waiting at the gate, wanting to be there for history.
“Thank you and keep being you. You make this place so special,” Venables said. “People have no idea of the love and the appreciation that ya'll have for your program. This is one of the richest, storied programs in the history of college football. “But it's not just all the success, it's the true passion and love that ya'll have in this state for your team. We separate ourselves.
“There's a lot of good football programs out there, but there's only one OU.”
His first head coaching job, and it’s going to be leading the Sooners.
“I really have deep passion and love for my job. It doesn't seem like work when you love what you do. To have the opportunity ... the first time I get to lead a program and it's Oklahoma? Are you kidding me? It doesn't get any better than this. It really doesn't.”
And the party is on
It wasn’t a one-night celebration. Last Monday was a welcome home party to the likes you will seldom see. There was Venables, sure, but he was flanked by the 2021 Sooners and all the OU players from the past who were officially welcomed back into the program.
The band, the cheerleaders, the stage, the fireworks. It was a moment to try to prove Stoops right, it was just a bump in the road.
Venables is the guy and his time begins now.
“I’ve had a great job. An amazing job. The quality of life, literally for the last 10 years, I went to work every day and I got filled up as a human being,” he said. “And that’s hard to quantify for some people. But I had perspective. I had awareness. I had appreciation. And I had a lot of fun.
“You try not to screw up happy. I learned that a long time ago. But this is a no-brainer in my opinion, for all the reasons that I said – from the leadership to the alignment to the success of this program and its history and location and people. All of it.”
We are Oklahoma is the motto, and it’s Venables leading the charge.
