Saturday's Cotton Bowl Showdown a Fork in the Road for Oklahoma's Head Coach

They're up against it, but Brent Venables and Oklahoma can ill-afford another loss to their ancient rivals from across the Red River.

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables talks to an official during the Sooners' game against UTEP. | Carson Field / Sooners On SI

Column

NORMAN — History has not smiled on Oklahoma coaches who started off with poor records against the Texas Longhorns.

Of OU's 23 head coaches, Brent Venables is the 10th to have at least five chances against UT. The fifth-year head coach is sitting with a 1-3 record against the Longhorns and is in danger of it growing to 1-4.

For Venables' sake, as head coach, that's not the position he wants to find himself in during the evening hours this Saturday.

The coaches with statues in front of the stadium started strong in the series.

Bennie Owen started 2-3 when he was named head coach in 1905. Bud Wilkinson posted a 3-2 record against the 'Horns beginning in 1947. Barry Switzer was 3-1-1 in his first five Red River Rivalries, two decades before Bob Stoops dropped his initial contest in the Cotton Bowl, only to follow with four consecutive victories.

Lincoln Riley's place in the series' history is unique. He led the program in six games against Texas during his five-year stint — including the 2018 Big 12 Championship rematch. Riley's teams started 5-1 against UT.

Some of the least successful coaches didn't help the Sooners' cause against Texas. Dewey Luster was 0-5 from 1941-1945. Adrian Lindsey's 1927-1931 stint came during a temporary pause in the Red River Rivalry from 1924-1928. Lindsey lost his only three games to the Longhorns.

Considering the tall task the 2026 Sooners have in front of them, 1-4 for Venables is a real possibility. That doesn't put him in the conversation with the four statue-bearing coaches — nor does it guarantee he can't still be successful in the future — but there are OU coaches who went two very different routes after a 1-4 start in Dallas.

Chuck Fairbanks didn't defeat Texas until his fifth season as head coach in 1971 — right when the second great era of Sooner football was beginning. Gary Gibbs dropped his first four Texas matchups before his lone victory in the series in 1993.

Fairbanks' initial lack of success in the Red River Rivalry was due in part to the program still trying to climb out of the waning days of the Wilkinson era of the 1960s, while UT enjoyed being one of the better programs in the country under Darrell Royal.

Once Fairbanks and the program got over the Texas hump, the Sooners overtook Texas and became one of the best programs of the 1970s and 1980s.

Gibbs inherited a tough situation following Switzer's resignation in the offseason of 1989. Not only was Gibbs tasked with leading the team through NCAA sanctions, TV and bowl bans, he had to clean up the image of the tarnished program.

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables | John E. Hoover / Sooners On SI

Ultimately, the task proved too much for Gibbs to overcome, with his OU story ending following the 1994 season.

The question is, if Venables drops another game against Texas — is his 1-4 record destined to end like Gibbs? Or can he dig himself and the program out of the hole they're in and rebound in the years following, as Fairbanks did?

Of course, Oklahoma can go to Dallas and leave victorious. Starting 2-3 against Texas is a much different environment than the alternative. Not to mention, a win like that could catapult OU into salvaging their 2026 season from the brink.

The coach who started 2-3 against UT, Owen, rattled off three consecutive wins from 1910-1912 following his fifth game — Oklahoma's first sequence of wins in the history of the series. Owen ended with an 8-8 record against UT.

History does not guarantee the future, but in this sense, it does help paint the picture Venables finds himself in.

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