New Oklahoma AD Roger Denny's Goal: 'It's Championships'

The introduction of Roger Denny as Oklahoma’s new athletic director on Wednesday carried with it some historic soundbites.

“We think we have found the prototype of the modern era sports executive,” said OU athletics chair Randall Stephenson, who spearheaded the search, along with a 12-member search committee and The Athlete Group’s Jake Rosenberg.

“This is one of those moments where you remember where you were when it took place,” said president Joe Harroz.

Denny replaces legendary AD Joe Castiglione, who has been on the job 28 years — since 1998. Castiglione announced last summer that he is stepping down, and he will be retained for the next three years as Emeritus AD.

With Rosenberg running point, Stephenson quickly landed on Denny, despite having only 4 1/2 years experience in the world of college athletics.

That, Harroz explained, actually worked in Denny’s favor.

“When we went through our matrix of what are the skills we’re looking for, you can just listen to these skills and think about how they resonate in the environment we’re in today,” Harroz said. “Deep work in the law firm working through intellectual property and licensing media rights and contracts, NIL-related structures, labor law and collective bargaining — and be under no misinterpretation ... the reality is collective bargaining is coming.”

“We spent literally two months putting together a job description,” Stephenson said. “This was a very different individual we wanted to help fill this role.”

Denny was previously deputy AD at Illinois after a 15-year career as a lawyer. Those skills, everyone in Norman believes, will be paramount as college sports evolves through the tumultuous times of NIL, transfer portal, conference realignment, court cases and beyond.

“We have the right person,” Harroz concluded.

During a 50-minute ceremony to introduce Denny, he, Harroz and Stephenson took turns on the dais, as well as OU Board of Regents chair Anita Holloway.

“There’s only one Oklahoma,” Denny said. “This is the standard bearer in college athletics. This program is defined by an unmatched expectation to compete for titles across generations.

“I promise that we're not here to play small.”

Although his law career had taken off, Denny said he’s been wanting to get into college athletics for a long time. Illinois was a great place to start, and he seems to comprehends the magnitude of running a monolithic program like Oklahoma.

“Winning matters,” he said. “Especially here. “Our student-athletes come here to win. Our supporters expect us to win. We’re here to support coach (Brent) Venables and go get No. 8. We’re here to widen the gap between our softball and gymnastics teams and the rest of the field. We’re here to get coach (Ryan) Hybl back to the mountaintop. And we’re here to pour some gas on the fire that coach (Jennie) Baranczyk has started in her program.

“The goal is not progress. It’s not wins. It’s championships.”

Denny also said to realize that potential, OU was going to have to embrace “an underdog spirit and work ethic,” which he said is “the only way I know how to do it.”

After Castiglione’s announcement and Stephenson’s two months of building the job description, Stephenson said he and Rosenberg brought six candidates into Dallas for formal interviews, and he said Denny’s interview lasted more than three hours.

“What I liked most is he and speak a lot of the same language,” Stephenson said.

Harroz said Stephenson routinely worked 65 hours a week to find the Sooners’ next AD.

“He's poured himself into every aspect of the enterprise,” Harroz said. “We would not be where we are today, across the board — we would not have had a 10-2 season in football, we would not be where we are right now without Randall Stephenson.”

As Harroz noted several times, Stephenson’s work for his alma mater has been gratis — “other than all his donations,” Harroz said.

As such, the former AT&T CEO and Walmart executive’s title at OU has changed from Chair of Football to Chair of Athletics, while Denny will be Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Programs and Director of Athletics.

Stephenson will now move to an advisory role, while Denny's lifelong dream will be fulfilled starting Feb. 15.

“Oklahoma is the most respected brand in college athletics,” he said. “Reputation was earned through competitive excellence, passionate support and incredible bond between this program, its alumni and its fans. That bond carries a ton of responsibility, and I take that responsibility seriously.

“I’m so energized by what lies ahead for this program. I believe deeply in our ability to define a whole new level of success here, and I’m so grateful you all have given me the opportunity to lead that pursuit.”