College Football Insider Predicts SEC Powerhouse Will Fire Head Coach and Lose Top Recruit to Rival
Brent Venables and his Oklahoma Sooners program are looking to turn things around after going 6-7 in 2024, and as his seat gets warmer heading into his fourth year on the job. The former Clemson defensive coordinator has gone 22-17 since being hired following Lincoln Riley’s departure for USC ahead of the 2022 season.
While the Sooners brought in the No. 12 transfer portal class in college football, headlined by Washington State quarterback John Mateer, confidence that Venables can help the Sooners return to College Football Playoff contention is dwindling.
So much so that Orangebloods’ Geoff Ketchum recently predicted that he’d be fired by the end of the year, and that the Sooners will lose its top recruit to Texas.
“I think Brent Venables is going to get fired at the end of the year,” Ketchum said. “Oh, by the way, there’s the elephant in the Jake Kreul story…That kid…might be looking for a new school and a new program. And maybe finishing second if you’re Texas isn’t the worst place to be with a kid committed to Oklahoma.”
The Sooners beat out Texas for four-star EDGE and No. 61 overall recruit Jake Kreul, earlier this week. While there seemed to be growing confidence in Austin that they’d land him, the IMG product chose to play his college ball in Norman
Although he is committed, the expectation is that the Longhorns will be pushing for a flip as they have done in the past with their Red River Rivalry counterpart.
If the Sooners were to fire Venables after the 2025 season, his buyout would be $34.9 million, per On3.
