Oklahoma AD Roger Denny Explains Decision to Extend Brent Venables

NORMAN — Roger Denny worked methodically to secure the leadership for Oklahoma’s football program.

The Sooners announced a two-year contract extension with head coach Brent Venables on Thursday, pending OU Board of Regents approval.

The deal will reportedly average $10.5 million per season, and no contract buyout has been reported at this time.

The process to extend Venables was already rolling when Denny arrived as OU’s athletic director, but the Oklahoma coach waited to ensure he was in lockstep with Denny.

“I give Brent a lot of credit that that conversation had started, but I got here and he gave me the grace and patience to get myself settled, spend some time together, get to know one another, get to know my bosses, start to figure out how we get those things through the system,” Denny told a small group of local reporters Thursday.

“And we just stayed in contact on it and kept moving it along, first slowly and then here over the last couple of weeks pretty quickly.”

OU already locked down general manager Jim Nagy with an extension, which Denny indicated is a deliberate strategy by his athletic department.

“The opportunity to really tie the core leadership of our program together and build a program around stability right now, when everything in our world seems to be around change, is a strategy that we’re going to lean into,” Denny said. “And I couldn’t be more confident in how those two guys work together and will build the future of our program.

“So, again, all the credit goes to BV, the work he’s done in that building and the work he’s done with our players. Couldn’t be more proud of that.”

Venables had four years remaining on his deal before the extension, but his belief in Venables’ leadership and the realities surrounding college coaching contracts led Denny to add another two years.

“That market moves so fast,” Denny said. “I think if you’re not careful, it’s going to get away from you in a hurry.

“And so, there’s some element of us that if we’re looking at the market and saying, OK, we’ve got an opportunity here, as in any market, to buy at the right time and continue to get really good value in this market. So doing that allows us the opportunity to continue to invest in other areas of our program.”

Venables led the Sooners back to the College Football Playoff last year for the first time since 2019, and he is 32-20 in four seasons at Oklahoma. OU enters the year ranked No. 10 in the AP Poll.

Oklahoma has been in this spot before.

Following the Sooners’ 10-3 campaign in 2023, then-athletic director Joe Castiglione gave Venables a two-year extension worth an extra $925,000 a year.

That decision drew criticism after Venables' third year ended with another 6-7 record and led to talks of Venables’ contract buyout through November and into that offseason.

It was a consideration that Denny had to grapple with in this process.

“It’s managed risk,” he said. “But I would tell you, I can’t — I have to be aware of what our worst-case scenario is. But ultimately, for us to have success, I have to plan for success. Right? I have to put our program in a position to be ready at every opportunity to not be so cautious about what the downside is that we all miss the upside.

“And so I’m certainly aware of it and I’ve got to have an understanding of what it would cost if we got to that point. But at the end of the day, if I’m so focused on the downside, we’ll never realize our upside.”

The extension aligns with Denny’s overall belief in stability at the top of each program — something that was on full display when he backed men’s basketball coach Porter Moser.

“Stability is what I believe in,” Denny said. “Right now, more than ever, what we need and more importantly what our student-athletes need is stability, so when we have coaches and staff members that have demonstrated the ability to excel at the level we expect them to excel, we’re going to invest in them.

“We’re going to do that knowing that it’s not always going to be easy. We’re not always going to excel, but we invest in them knowing that we’ve got the right person, that when we do fall short, it’s someone we can go lock arms with and go figure it out.”

Denny leaned into his promise with Moser and delivered more resources to the basketball program.

He’s hoping that becomes a defining mark of his time at the helm of Oklahoma athletics.

“I’m not at any point going to be someone with a quick trigger on stuff,” Denny said. “I don’t believe in it. I don’t think it’s the right way to go. I don’t think it’s a human way to deal with things. Ultimately, I think more often than not, I look at folks with the quick trigger, and I think it’s a lazy approach. ...

“Ultimately, that’s what our place is going to be about. We’re going to invest in our people and be the ones who go to our athletes and say, ‘Hey, the leadership you chose to follow that we got here, we’re going to continue to invest and make it better every time around rather than reset at every chance we get.”

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