Here's the Backstory on Brent Venables' Postgame CWS Visit and What Oklahoma Players Thought

OMAHA, NE — There’s no denying that Brent Venables has a way with people.

Especially athletes.

Venables was an impromptu guest of honor in the Oklahoma clubhouse on Monday night minutes after the Sooners’ 4-3 victory over No. 2 seed Georgia.

OU’s football coach attended the game (alongside GM Jim Nagy) and was giving out emotional high fives in the hallway.

That’s when OU’s baseball coach got an idea to take BV’s visit one step further.

“I said, ‘Hey, man, you're talking to the team,’ Skip Johnson said after practice on Tuesday afternoon. “He goes, ‘No, no,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, you're talking to the team. And it was really good, because they got to see that inspiration from another coach in our school.”

Venables, women’s basketball coach Jennie Barancyk, men’s basketball coach Porter Moser, and a couple of Venables’ predecessors — Bob Stoops and Barry Switzer — were among the luminaries greeting the team as they came off the field victorious and staked their place in Wednesday’s bracket finals.

But it was Venables who was asked to address the team after a riveting victory.

RIGHT NOW 🗣️ @CoachJohnsonOU x @CoachVenables pic.twitter.com/TlQACezhgq
— Oklahoma Baseball (@OU_Baseball) June 16, 2026

“Let me just tell you guys something,” Venables began. “You just need that something special, OK? You guys are battle tested. You’re like America’s Team right now! Y’all know that? You’re honoring people by how you do what you do. You know it when you see it. You know it when you don’t.”

He then engaged them in a quick back-and-forth, high-volume, follow-me chants.

“You guys are at the freaking doorway — right now! When are you at the doorway? Right now! When? Now! Right when? Now! Right when? Now!

“Freaking dominate this moment sitting in front of you! Don’t blink! Finish the freaking job! That’s one! Good luck, and can’t wait to watch you guys play! Unbelievable!”

After his speech, Venables audience — still in their cleats and uniforms — gathered around him for one more push.

“This team right here is destined for freaking greatness,” Venables shouted. “Let’s go! Finish on me — 1-2-3! Finish!”

Simply put, Venables fired up and inspired Johnson’s troops.

“I was fired up,” said pitcher Nick Wesloski, who Johnson said will start Wednesday’s game. “J Will (Jaxon Willis) said he was already run through a brick wall — I was, too. I could have gone out there — he could give me a speech and I could go out and play a full game for him.”

After his solo home run became the difference in the game, left fielder Brendan Brock was doing an interview on the SEC Network — and missed Venables’ speech in person.

But everyone was still talking about it when he got back to the clubhouse.

“We haven't stopped talking about it,” Brock said. “It was awesome, man. I mean, he's a great coach, and he knows how to fire up the locker room.”

Venables might have resonated with closer Jackson Cleveland the most. Cleveland recorded the last five outs for his ninth save of the season and got Georgia’s Daniel Jackson to fly out to center field to end a 4-3 game with two runners on base. His adrenaline had to be pumping pretty good already when Venables walked in.

“Oh, I loved it,” Cleveland said. “I mean, he knows what will light a fire under us … so it's pretty sick to hear that from him.”

Willits said during the postgame press conference it was “pretty cool” to see all the OU coaches at the game. But Venables definitely cranked things up.

“He had me ready to go play linebacker, ready to run through a wall,” Willits said. “He's pretty good at what he does.”

That’s why Johnson enlisted a little help from Venables. And after practice on Tuesday he still seemed genuinely glad he did.

“Oh, I thought it was electric,” Johnson said. “I'm not much on rah-rah speeches, unless I get really pissed, and I'll give some of those, and that's pretty rare. But when I walked around the corner … I mean, Brent hugged me, and I thought I was going to get a concussion, gives me a fist bump — he lifts a little bit more than I get to lift.

“He was going, ‘Man, that was great, that was enthusiasm, that was courage, that was everything you can (have).”

Johnson calls the OU athletics department a “family-owned business.” Monday was the latest example of that kinship.

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“All the coaches showing up was really, it's really big,” Johnson said. “I mean, it's really unique at a big school with a big football program, big basketball program, outstanding softball program, gymnastics so good, golf, everything, track and field, I can name all of them, but it's really big that those guys are showing up and supporting these guys, because they go out and support them.

“And to see that fire and that tenacity, and whatever you say, the enthusiasm that Brent Venables showed yesterday, just shows you what our school is about, because he, we love each other like that. It's a family-owned business, and that's what the University of Oklahoma is all about.”

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