NORMAN — As college football "general managers" become more commonplace, but are still relatively new, the responsibilities can fluctuate as the college football landscape changes.

But for new Oklahoma general manager Jim Nagy, the goal is simple — help Brent Venables and the coaching staff.

As the increase in transfer portal activity and the significant money in name, image and likeness continues to change the fabric of college football, head coaches have been stretched thin as they manage their program. That's where Nagy comes into help.

"When I came in on the interview, that's the one thing I wanted to do was just assure the coaches that I'm here to help," Nagy said Wednesday when asked by OUInsider. "I mean, this is going to be a really fun collaboration. I saw it firsthand in the NFL.

"Brent and I's relationship is going to be critical, and he and I both know that. We have to be really intentional with our communication."

There's a few areas where Nagy is hoping to be immediately helpful.

The biggest area will likely be talent evaluation in both high school recruiting and the transfer portal, which is Nagy's area of expertise. Nagy spent nearly two decades in NFL scouting departments and the last seven years as the executive director of the Senior Bowl as he honed in on evaluating players. As part of that focus, Nagy said he plans to build out a 'robust' staff at Oklahoma filled with scouts who have NFL experience.

But it's not just evaluating players. The rise in NIL has also increased the number of agents representing college players, and that's where Nagy can help, too.

"The conversations with agents this year, if you had all of us head coaches up here, they would tell you where those conversations were two years ago or three years ago were a lot different from where they were this year," Venables said. "The depth and the amount of people that are agents today is a lot different... And so, figuring all that out and navigating all that, we’ll leave it to people who have done it their entire careers, so you have a great sense of peace. Those are a couple of the many reasons why this is such an exciting opportunity for us in bringing Jim on.

"Brent doesn't need to be negotiating all these contracts," Nagy added. "I don't think that's a coach's place, at all."

But another important piece is talent retention, which has become particularly critical for the Sooners and programs across college football. Last month, ESPN released a report stating that returning production has dropped by 23% since 2021 as transfer portal activity has increased. The Sooners have seen that firsthand, particularly this offseason, when key players like Jackson Arnold, Jalil Farooq, Nic Anderson, Dasan McCullough and Lewis Carter entered the portal and landed elsewhere.

"For coaching, forever, it's been evaluate, right? It's been recruit, right? Then it's been develop and coach," Nagy said. "Now, there's this retainment piece. And I think if schools (should be) looking at that and saying, how can we create more time for our coaches to work on the retainment piece and build culture and develop a place where players want to stay?

"Because the worst thing that can happen is we bring in good players and lose good players. Whether that's in college or the NFL, if you draft a good player and you develop him and he gets to his free agent deal and you lose him, that's worse case scenario. To me, the scouting staff we bring in, we're gonna really take a heavy lift off the evaluation side."

With all the moving parts in college football, the model for success will be Venables and Nagy to work well together. As Venables mentioned, the Sooners have had to build models for the modern landscape basically from scratch, and there will be push and pull from both the head coach and the general manager as they look for success following a disappointing 2024 campaign.

"We're still gonna include the coaches, there's no doubt," Nagy said. "... I'll never forget (former Green Bay Packers general manger Ron Wolf) telling me, 'Never force a player down a coach's throat. Never do that because it won't work out.' I was part of some clubs where we did that a couple times, and it didn't work.

"So people have asked, what's going to happen if you and Brent don't see the same — there's enough high school players and players in the portal, we're gonna find common ground on for sure. I'm not worried about that. So the coaches are still gonna be involved in the evaluation."

For Venables, Nagy's hire signals an ability for him to focus more on coaching. That's crucially, particularly with Venables assuming playcalling duties for the defense.

"I think the biggest thing from a time-management standpoint, (the general manager) takes a load of time and gets you back to the things you want to be as a head coach: developing your team, doing the X’s and the O’s, focusing on your culture, giving your coaches the resources they need to be successful," Venables said. "So, that took a lot of time, and you already have a very finite amount of time as it is. So, not being stretched thin and having a staff that that’s all they think about 24/7."

As the Sooners move into a new era, and a new front-office structure, it'll be Venables and Nagy working together to make it all work. Both of them expressed optimism about their future collaboration.

"I thrive in a collaborative format, so that’s what we’re going to do," Nagy said. "Everyone that comes in the building — it’s not going to be Brent’s guy, it’s not going to be my guy. It’s going to be an Oklahoma guy. And the staff’s guy.

"That’s what I believe and I’ve seen it work. I think it’s the only way.”