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Brent Venables’ reputation for fiery, hard-nosed coaching dates back to his days as Oklahoma’s defensive coordinator in the early 2000s. Bac...
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Gundy built a respectable program at Oklahoma State by leveraging his coaching acumen and, more importantly, his personality to align with t...
Venables' Sooner Leadership Troubling
What we’re witnessing with OU’s offense is not merely a slump — it’s an identity crisis. Oklahoma fans are accustomed to high-powered, fast-...
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Gutless Mike Farrell Out of Line to Sick Sooner Fans on Caleb Williams Over his LA Times Comments
Caleb Williams wasn't as quiet as the Manning family when it came to Mike Farrell's unprofessional, reckless criticism of the former Okla...
Caleb Williams wasn't as quiet as the Manning family when it came to Mike Farrell's unprofessional, reckless criticism of the former Oklahoma Quarterback and his father over the weekend stemming from an article he either never read or completely had no comprehension of.
Williams, who transferred at the end of last season to follow Lincoln Riley to USC, publicly dressed down Farrell with a pair of tweets of his own, directed straight at former Rivals scout, who had earlier claimed Williams' father Carl told the Los Angeles Times that "the reaction of the Oklahoma Sooners fans was part of the reason his son left for USC."
Farrell's claim in the lede of his "Mind of Mike: Pissed Off Version" blog post on his website was shameful, much like the tweet that followed.
Farrell, "The Godfather of Scouting," apparently can't spot a clue these days, which might explain his "Pissed Off Mike" Rants on his Player Evaluation/Commentary/News?? website MikeFarrellSports.com
Farrell recently drew strong criticism in college recruiting circles for publicly claiming that Arch Manning was a 3-Star recruit if he had any other last name, rather than the country's top-rated incoming senior and Texas' prize commitment in the 2023 rankings.
Formerly a scout with Rivals, Farrell tweeted about how "pissed-off" he was at the top-rated high school quarterback of 2020, Williams, after clearly MISREADING a profile piece in the Los Angeles times about Caleb Williams that referenced his transfer from Oklahoma after last season to follow former Sooner Head Coach Riley.
On Sunday, Williams responded to Farrell's tweet claiming the elder Williams blamed the Oklahoma fan base for his son's decision to transfer out following a highly-successful freshman season, asking that Farrell take down the tweet which had already stirred the ire of OU fans on Twitter, and saying that fans of the Sooners were the reason he strongly considered remaining in Norman rather than following Riley to Southern California.
“Reaction to this? Mine is — this is beyond ridiculous," Farrell's Tweet said. "Kid was gone. And entering the portal and not expecting OU to get another QB is laughable."
Maybe you should have read the quote more carefully, Mike, because most people understood that Carl Williams was referring to the harsh blowback his son received from the notoriously vocal OU fan base AFTER it was announced that he had indeed entered the transfer portal, not before.
The younger Williams' response to the tweet asking Farrell to remove it was met, not with a strong defense of the accusation’s validity, but rather a sheepish suggestion that Williams and his father agree to an interview with him to share their side of the story.
"Wanna take this (down)?" Caleb Williams wrote in his quote Tweet. "The fans and my old teammates are the reason (why) I almost stayed!"
Farrell didn't remove the Tweet, though, and didn't even offer any explanation for how he interpreted Carl Williams' quote in the LA Times piece.
As you'll see in the video, the quarterback's response to the request was rather pointed in denying Farrell an opportunity to interview them.
Quite frankly, as you’ll see in our second take on Farrell’s antagonistic behavior, his unwillingness to even consider taking the Tweet down without an interview shows a complete lack of professionalism and the utter lack of anything even resembling the judgment one would expect from a journalist dealing with a college athlete that broke no rules and is among best players in the country. His goal was to drive traffic to his website, to get more retweets, followers, and therefore eyes on his content, which in turn results in his own financial gain.
It was a GUTLESS take. A cheap shot. An obvious lie for click-bait. You didn't even bother to defend what you said to Williams directly after his quote-tweet, Mike. There was no apology or explanation, not even a defiant clap back to further defend the OU fans that you felt so compelled to stick up for after "reading" the LA Times bio in the first place.
Instead, you constructed a flimsy pedestal atop complete misinformation, then stood on it as if it were some sort of moral high ground.
This is how a bonafide ”Godfather" conducts himself? Because it smacks as much more "Fredo" than "Don Vito Corleone" to me.
Did Caleb Williams own you in his response to your interview "suggestion" on Twitter? Oh, yes, Mike, HE OWNED YOU, alright. And if the continual rallying of support within your feed, days after Williams abandoned the conversation himself, is any indication, Williams still owns a sizable piece of you today.
Even if that ground is more or less unable to produce fruit anymore.
The SEC transition has been harsher on Brent Venables and the Oklahoma Sooners than anticipated, with a tough 1-4 start sparking fan concerns over Venables’ leadership.
Despite glimpses of offensive progress in their latest 26-14 loss at Ole Miss, Oklahoma’s 4-4 record has fueled doubts about Venables’ ability to steer the program through the SEC’s relentless competition. While injuries to key offensive players have created challenges, Venables’ hesitance to address coaching issues and poor communication within the offensive staff have only deepened the Sooners' struggles.
The failure of the offensive staff to communicate effectively and Venables’ hesitance to manage his coaching staff proactively have compounded the difficulties presented by mounting injuries.
Hesitancy on Display: The 4th-Down Decision
Venables' hesitation was encapsulated on Saturday, just six days after finally relieving Littrell of his duties as offensive coordinator: the 4th-and-4 timeout against Ole Miss late in the third quarter. Trailing by two scores, Oklahoma needed a jolt to stay in the game.
The situation was critical, but hardly complex. Coaches make these calls instinctively, often without a second thought. Instead, Venables used a timeout — only to ultimately bring out the punt team, a decision that deflated the offense and left fans scratching their heads.
If the choice was to punt, Venables could’ve delayed the game for a mere five yards instead of burning a precious timeout. If he intended to go for it, why not get his new play caller’s best play for the situation and make the call confidently?
Even if the Sooners fail to pick up the four yards, it would have signaled a willingness to take a chance — or give one — to an offense that has been less-than-inspiring all season.
In that one instance, Venables’ hesitation was as costly as a missed play. With the momentum squarely in favor of Lane Kiffin’s Rebels, burning that timeout only to punt sent the wrong signal to a young group on offense that is in serious need of someone who believes in them. Instead, he proved he didn’t trust them to get a measly four yards and extend a drive to get back into the game.
OU’s Identity Crisis on Offense
What we’re witnessing with OU’s offense is not merely a slump — it’s an identity crisis. Oklahoma fans are accustomed to high-powered, fast-paced offenses that can score almost at will. Littrell’s offense was anything but explosive for seven weeks, and Joe Jon Finley had a lackluster, scoreless latter half of Week 8, too.
To say the Sooners struggled to establish consistency would be an overwhelming understatement.
OU has struggled with untimely penalties and turnovers and suffered through a complete lack of innovation and creativity. The plays feel uninspired, lack direction and are devoid of explosive results.
As a unit, this offense is drawing comparisons to the infamous John Blake era, and has the numbers to back the comparison up. ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️
There’s no other way to say it but bluntly … OU has no clear identity with its offense on the field.
The offensive woes go beyond play-calling; they’re structural. Reports from inside the Switzer Center suggest that there have been significant communication breakdowns within the offensive staff. Coaches have reportedly been on different pages regarding even the most fundamental elements, like blocking schemes. If those rumors are reaching the public, it’s safe to say Venables has known about these issues for some time.
A head coach — even a defensive-minded one like Venables — cannot allow such dysfunction to persist. These aren’t minor misunderstandings; they’re symptoms of a team struggling to find cohesion. Venables needed to address these issues early, before they became embedded in the team’s culture, but his delay in doing so has turned what might have been small fires into an inferno.
Mailed-In Hire: The Problem with Littrell
When Venables hired Seth Littrell, it felt like a placeholder decision. It wasn’t the bold, visionary hire that programs like Oklahoma should be making. Littrell’s track record showed some promise, but he had yet to prove himself as the kind of offensive mind that could elevate a program to championship contention.
Looking back on the decision to elevate Littrell and Finley, the hire seems more like an afterthought, a half-measure rather than a commitment to offensive excellence.
The results have been glaringly obvious. The offense lacks explosive creativity that OU fans are used to seeing, and that lack of energy has translated into downright unacceptable performances on the field, as evidenced by the Sooners’ historically bad statistical rankings in FBS football.
In just ten months on the job, Littrell and his offensive staff failed to the tune of numbers nobody in their right minds would have predicted following the Sooners’ 2023 season that saw the offense rank in the Top 5 in both Total Offense and Scoring Offense, and alone at the top of the Big 12 Conference in Points, Yards and Yards Per Play.
This despite having two of the most electric quarterbacks from their respective recruiting classes in the fold:
2023 5-star and Elite 11-winning Jackson Arnold of Denton Guyer, the 2023 Gatorade National HS Player of the Year and twice a Class 6A State Finalist in Texas.
And former Allen and Frisco Emerson (Texas) superstar Michael Hawkins, Jr., a Sooner legacy trained by Kyler's father Kevin Murray, and who, as a senior, accounted for 55 touchdowns and just three turnovers, leading Emerson to within a game of playing for a Texas State Championship in Class 5A.
Neither were able to sustain success under Littrell's tutelage, and rumors have swirled this week about none of OU's QBs feeling as though been properly developed by the now-fired Littrell as the QBs coach.
Both started a games after being inserted for the other following ineffective play, and both came into their first appearances under Littrell with confidence and swagger that appeared missing by the time they were pulled from games after committing three turnovers and allowing the Sooners to fall behind teams they likely could have beaten were it not for the turnovers they committed.
In other words, Seth Littrell had to go.
Saturday’s loss leaves Oklahoma at 4-4, staring down a potential losing season -- the second for Venables since he arrived after the abrupt departure of Lincoln Riley to USC.
These are unacceptable at Oklahoma, a school with one of the richest football traditions in the country. What makes it even more alarming is that no longer can OU fans blame the losses on a ineffectice, suoddr defense — OU seems to have mostly turned the corner on that side of the ball — but to say the fan base is frustrated, would again be a massive understatement.
Oklahoma fans don’t want excuses; they want results. And for a head coach like Venables, the time for excuses is running out.
The Next OC Hire: BV’s Defining Moment
After Finally punting the Littrell experiment — once again needing more time than most believe he should have — Venables again finds himself in the market for a new offensive coordinator — for the third time in three seasons.
This time, though, the choice Venables makes will ultimately define his second tenure in Norman, possibly his entire future as a head coach in college football. Mailing it in would be tantamount to a dereliction of duty in the eyes of Sooner Nation.
Venables MUST get this one right. He has to bring in someone with a proven track record of offensive success, someone who can bring energy, innovation, and a clear identity to the offense. Anything less than a home-run hire will only deepen the cracks in Venables’ foundation as head coach.
If Venables fails to find the right offensive coordinator, his job security will slip through those cracks, and his tenure as the Head Ball Coach of the Sooners will die in a whimper. Even if he builds a defense that resembles the ’85 Bears, it won’t matter if OU’s offense can’t score points.
The OU fan base is patient to a degree, but they expect excellence. For Venables, this is a make-or-break moment.
Either he finds the right offensive coordinator and proves he can lead a balanced, championship-caliber team, or he risks being shown the door in a year or less.
The Venables Paradox: Championship Defense, JV Offense
The irony of Venables’ situation is that, in many ways, Oklahoma has become Lincoln Riley’s reverse image. Under Riley, the Sooners fielded prolific offenses but were plagued by a porous defense that could never quite get them over the championship hump.
With Venables, it’s the opposite: the defense has shown promise, but the offense is currently in full-on spiral.
The head coach role, especially at Blue Blood OU, requires more than defensive expertise or recruiting prowess. It demands a complete vision, a well-rounded team, and an unwavering commitment to excellence on both sides of the ball.
For Venables to truly establish himself as a championship-level head coach, he has to be willing to delegate offense to someone who can make people forget he’s a defensive guru and simply call him “Coach.” To reach the heights that Oklahoma fans demand, Venables needs to be remembered not as a defensive mind but as a leader who fields a complete team. That requires taking risks, making tough decisions, and, most importantly, holding his staff to the highest possible standard.
It requires a decisive, confident vision for a championship future. The clock is ticking on Brent Venables’ tenure in Oklahoma, and his window for turning things around is narrowing.
Being the head coach at Oklahoma is an honor, but it’s also a responsibility. Venables needs to rise to that responsibility, or he and Lincoln Riley might both be in the job market this time next year.
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Jason Watkins is the Publisher at HOF Media Group and the Host of the HOF College Football Podcast. Reach him at jw@hofmedia.us