The Sooners are at a crossroads and it is more than just football and Brent V……….

A make or break season for Oklahoma’s football coach Brent Venables?  Win eight games or more a must? Show improvement, and give the Sooner fans hope and excitement for the future, in the SEC, as the years roll on?

Sooner Nation, are you in for a great 2025 as the team shows that it can compete in the new look, if just temporary, of the game of big time college football?  Are you excited?

All the intangibles are in your face Sooner fans.  New players (are they any good), new coaches (are they any good), reorganization of the structure of the “sports franchise” in Norman (general manager, the new leader of the football program), will have a part of this new world that the Sooners will participate in.

2025 will be the most significant year for OU football since the hiring of Bud Wilkinson, the hiring of Jim Mackenzie, and the hiring of Bob Stoops.  Yes, you could include the hiring of Brent Venables if you wish, but time will tell about this fellow.  The final verdict of his hire cannot be judged good or bad until the complete history of his head coaching tenure has run it course. But you do have an argument as losing is just as significant as of the winning coaches mentioned in a sentence above.  Athletic Director Joe Castiglione, will it be a hit, or a miss on Brent? You hired him.   Will we know that (significance) in January of 2026, or will it be later?

My take is that win or lose in 2025, OU’s best bet is that Venables is still residing in Norman for the 2026 season as the head coach.  To make another change this soon for the football program would not be good as of any continuity of the program.

Football today is all about money.  Money issues for the school override everything.  Money for the coaches and salaries; money spent by the fans in ticket sales/merchandise; money for the support of the program by the donors, big wigs, and corporate sponsors;  and now, money for the players as the Sooners “buy” players to put on the crimson and cream uniforms.

The blue bloods, the good programs, the general run-of-the mill also rans, and any school that fields a sports program must make the correct decisions on the how much money is needed to meet the needs of their particular program.

What are the goals of the individual teams, with football being the most important clog in the system for teams that field the sport.  Is a school chasing national championships or just playing out schedules to please the folks, be it the students, fans, administration, or the casual fans that follow the team without fidelity?

If you are Oklahoma, and we know there is only one, the goal of winning a “natty” is high on the list, but for the past 25 years or so, what has the program done in that respect? You can answer that question as each response will be owned you.  The same question can be asked in Stillwater, Morgantown, Austin, Monroe, LA, and State College.  The individual answers vary, but will include the same thoughts and wants.  Yes friends, there are Oklahoma State fans that yearn for another football national title, and not like the one that was recognized after the fact. And as in places like College Station, delusional fans will cry out for that College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy, every year, until hell freezes over Kyle Field.

It will be a hard ass mistake if the Sooners fire Brent Venables before the work is completed, what that might be. That might never happen with him at OU, if fired to early, but the alternative could be a revolving door of losing coaches.   Never to see the Sooners as a viable football program to win another title is a possibility.  SEC championships or the grand prize the National one, might be the written history for many years to come.

Hopefully, the new AD for OU will be allowed to make his decision, unless the General Manager at OU, the new position, becomes the “king” maker.  Sooner Nation, you are not to know at this time.  Two things to ponder at OU today. One,  Leadership is paramount to success.  Have only one leader for the football program, be it the head coach, the AD, or the GM.  The buck has to stop somewhere.  And two, having the current AD to stick around and allow his presence and influence to taint the “decision maker” is not good.  Many love Joe C. But you need to go home and play with your grandkids.  There must only be one leader, like there is only ONE OKLAHOMA.

Get it right OU or this program is going to see what it does not want to see.  The program has had enough dubious decisions that have hurt it lately.  Money decisions, lack of hires, and a dilapidation of facilities as of donor support is not going away.  Where you put your dollars with regard to individual sport and their athletes is going to have to be delt with.  As for football, is OU the next Nebraska? Tom Osborne, that one is on you old man. No disrespect, but you should have gone to the farm and played with your grandkids too.