Report: Oklahoma to Hire Former OL Phil Loadholt to Support Staff
Brent Venables continues to make splash additions to his inaugural staff in Norman.
According to a report from On3Sports’ Matt Zenitz, the Sooners are bringing in former Oklahoma and NFL offensive lineman Phil Loadholt on the offensive support staff.
Loadholt was a powerful piece of an OU offensive line that helped create one of the best offenses in college football history in 2008.
After two very successful years in Norman, Loadholt was selected with the No. 54 overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings.
Loadholt would go on to be a very good professional player with the Vikings making 89 starts over the next six seasons, but a torn achilles sidelined him for the entirety of the 2015 campaign.
He would never play again after that, officially announcing his retirement in 2016.
As Zenitz noted, he has spent the two seasons as an offensive line analyst at Ole Miss alongside new OU offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby.
Now, the 6-foot-8 340-pounder returns to his alma mater to help Venables return the Sooners to previous glory.
Of course, when Loadholt was a player at Oklahoma - Venables was the defensive coordinator.
This also continues a theme of the offseason for OU in bringing in coaches and support staffers with ties to Oklahoma along with others such as Lebby, Jerry Schmidt and Brandon Hall.
