The vultures are circling above a proud but wounded Oklahoma football program that for so long knew nothing but 10- or 11-win seasons, but now finds itself staggered by two seasons out of the last three with just six wins.
Losing seasons are extremely rare in Sooner football history. They've had only 13 losing seasons in 130 years, and Brent Venables has had two in just three years. By comparison, Bud Wilkinson had just one losing season in 17 years as OU's head coach. Barry Switzer and Bob Stoops never had a losing season in 16 and 18 years, respectively.
This is why most college football experts believe 2025 will be a make-or-break year for Venables. Another losing season will most likely bring his time at Oklahoma to an end.
The Sooners hired a new offensive coordinator -- Ben Arbuckle from Washington State -- after their disappointing 6-7 debut season in the snake pit that is SEC football, and they will soon name a new defensive coordinator (which many experts are speculating could be Jim Knowles, currently in that role at Ohio State.)
Getting both coordinator positions right --especially on the rudderless offensive side -- is an absolute must for Venables' future at Oklahoma.
SEC radio host Paul Finebaum believes in Venables and what he is working to build at Oklahoma, but he also readily acknowledges that the Sooner head coach is definitely on the hot seat and will be fighting to keep his job next season.
Earlier this week on his SEC Network program, Finebaum said he believes the Sooners will be "much better" in 2025.
"They could be undefeated heading into Dallas (OU plays five opponents, including Michigan and Auburn, before the Red River Rivalry game against Texas next season)," Finebaum said, "I think they are going to have a much better year. By the way, if they don't, Brent Venables will be gone because he can't survive another bad year."
Finebaum is certainly not a card-carrying member of the Brent Venables Fan Club, but reading between the lines, I get the impression that he would rather see the OU head coach succeed rather than fail. That's more than you can say about how the SEC Network host felt about the Oklahoma program in the latter years of the Bob Stoops coaching reign. Finebaum once called Stoops' OU team "irrelevant."
As every fan knows, though, games are won by players and plays on the field, and not by what experts or media pundits outside of the lines want to believe. Regardless, Finebaum's comments this week about the Sooners give reason for some optimism looking ahead to next season.