Oklahoma Tight Ends Coach Jason Witten Hitting the Ground Running

NORMAN — Jason Witten remembers sitting down at the dining room table with his grandfather, legendary Tennessee high school coach Dave Rider, a yellow legal pad laying in front of the two.

Rider would sketch out plays and go through responsibilities with his grandson.

But those sessions became so much more.

“He really used the game of football to teach me about life,” Witten, Oklahoma’s new tight ends coach, said Monday during his first interview session with local media after he was hired in January. “... He was demanding. He let me know that as a coach’s kid or grandkid, ‘You’re going to have to show the way and be the way.’ … Just the greatest male influence I had in my life.”

Witten came to live with his grandfather after his father struggled with drug and alcohol abuse when Witten was young.

“He really stepped in at a pivotal time in my life,” Witten said, noting that his grandfather’s influence was among the biggest reasons he decided to go into coaching after his long NFL career.

Sooners coach Brent Venables made waves when he brought Witten, a future Pro Football Hall of Famer, onto the staff.

Witten replaces Joe Jon Finley, who had struggled in recent years to develop tight ends to have a significant impact on the Sooners’ offense.

OU has rebuilt the tight ends room this offseason, most notably with the addition of Florida transfer Hayden Hansen.

“He’s played a lot of ball in this league,” Witten said. “He’s smart and he’s tough.”

Witten’s relationship with Venables developed not only through the recruitment of Witten’s son, but also through Venables’ relationship with Dan Brooks.

Brooks recruited Witten to Tennessee, where Witten blossomed into a star.

From 2009-16, Brooks served as Clemson’s defensive line coach. Venables became the Tigers’ defensive coordinator in 2012.

“I just had a lot of respect for him,” Witten said of Venables. “I think as an assistant coach, you’re No. 1 job is to live out and execute the vision of the head coach and in order to do that, you better believe in that. … I think he does a phenomenal job. Everything’s well-thought out. He loves football more than anybody I’ve ever met.”

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Witten said one of the things that’s stood out to him so far about working with offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and the OU offensive staff was the collaborative nature of the group.

“I think we all know what the standard and expectation is — we’ve got to play better on the offensive side of the ball,” Witten said. “Coach Arbuckle has been great as far as just teaching the offense but then being open to hearing suggestions and ideas. The best teams I’ve been around, when you get people around the table and you come up with ideas, ultimately as the offensive coordinator he’s going to make those decisions, draw a line in the sand, but it’s been great over the course of the last six weeks just open dialogue, communicating different ways of doing things.”

Witten wasn’t sure what the timeline would be to move to college or professional coaching.

After his NFL career ended with the Las Vegas Raiders following the 2020 season, Witten decided it would be best for his family to move to high school coaching, and he landed at Liberty Christian in Argyle, TX.

He coached them to two state titles.

Even though his son, 4-star linebacker Cooper Witten, had a year left in high school when Venables came calling, Witten decided it was time to make the leap.

“It was hard to tell them goodbye,” Witten said. “We had a lot of fun building a great program and just honestly can say I gave it everything I had. We did so much. I’ve got so much respect for high school football coaches — no job too big, but there was no job too small when you’re a high school football coach. That humbled me. That was a great experience.”

Cooper Witten committed to Oklahoma on March 3, just a few weeks after his dad joined the Sooners’ staff.

DeMarco Murray, Oklahoma’s former running backs coach and one of Witten’s teammates with the Cowboys, helped Witten hit the ground running at the college level.

The pair went on several recruiting trips together before Murray left OU to become the Kansas City Chiefs’ running backs coach.

“He was great just to have him early in this process,” Witten said. “... All the logistical things that you don’t have enough time when you’re getting thrown into the fire, he was great. I could text him or call him and not feel like I’m hounding him too much. He’s one of my dearest friends. …

“I’m thankful I had those five, six weeks with him because he helped me tremendously.”

Sometimes great players struggle when they move to coaching.

Hayden Hansen, Sooners — Florida tight end Hayden Hansen (89) runs against Florida State during the first half of an NCAA football game at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, November 29, 2025. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun] | Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Witten said his experience — and drive — would help to overcome that.

“You’ve got to teach, you’ve got to study it, you’ve got to articulate, ‘Why am I successful? How are we going to do that?’ You’ve got to put pen to paper, you’ve got to find how kids learn, you’ve got to know what they’re strengths are, the things that you’ve got to improve on and you’ve got to put a plan in place for them,” he said.

Witten pointed to a couple of successful NFL coaches who have been able to translate playing success to coaching success.

“One of the things that happens to players is they struggle with that, but I think on the flip side of that, kind of contrary to that is the ones that do are pretty good,” Witten said. “Mike Vrabel is a great example of that. That’s a great challenge to me to look at that as a blueprint, Dan Campbell, those type of guys. One of the things getting into coaching was that approach, learning from the guys who didn’t have success and focus on the things and what those guys did to make that transition to be successful.”