Jim Nagy has made Oklahoma into what the rest of college football wants to be

With general manager Jim Nagy and head coach Brent Venables as the architects, the Oklahoma Sooners have quietly become the blueprint for navigating modern-day college football that’s become more like the NFL, with the transfer portal (free agency), NIL, salary caps and even contracts.

Venables admitted just this month that Nagy has made his job more peaceful even during the most chaotic time of college football because of the way they split the workload. I wrote then that the OU duo is an example for the rest of college football of how to run a program today. And it’s not just those of us consistently following the Sooners that are noticing the precedent being set.

“At Oklahoma, they have built the model,” longtime NFL Draft expert Todd McShay said on The Brandon Walker College Football Show. “I can tell you now because I’m dealing with a lot of these GMs in college. That front office for the Oklahoma Sooners is the model that everyone’s chasing right now.

“They understand the salary cap. Everything that was pitched from Mike Lombardi and Bill Belichick (at North Carolina) about the 33rd NFL team is what’s actually going on in Norman.”

Todd McShay's comments are proof that the OU plan is the future of college football

When the Sooners hired Nagy last February, he already had a plan in motion and has executed it almost flawlessly while designing OU’s front office to mirror what he was familiar with in the NFL during his past life. That included everything from an assistant GM, to multiple scouts with different objectives.

There wasn’t an overnight national title like some fans might have hoped for, but the results were definitely immediate.

Credit Venables and his defense, but the Sooners went from 6-7 fighting for bowl eligibility to 10-3 and making the College Football Playoff in a year’s time. Venables deserves his flowers for 2025’s results, but there’s no doubt there’s belief in Oklahoma’s future under Venables because of Nagy.

Nagy was late to putting together the 2026 recruiting class, but still helped pull off some last-minute flips to bolster the group before signing day. He got to build the 2027 class from the ground up, though, and it’s been inside the top 5 in the country for the majority of this cycle. All early signs already point to the 2028 group being at the same level. And for those paying attention, the way Nagy has assembled those classes by finding talent before anyone else has been phenomenal.

As for transfers, the Sooners didn’t lose any solidified starters from 2025 to the portal this offseason. They also added pieces where necessary (especially TE and WR) while not breaking the bank.

Read more: Jim Nagy makes it clear playing for Oklahoma is a long-term investment

Nagy gets a lot of flack for being high on transfer bust Jaydn Ott, but with that same spring 2025 class, he was also responsible for bringing in Lou Groza Award winner Tate Sandell and starting center Jake Maikkula. He also helped Venables deal with a looming roster limit that forced OU to cut ties with some players.

The plan Nagy mapped out is working at Oklahoma, and it’s about to become protocol throughout college football before the Sooners take over.

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