Brent Venables' absurd buyout means Oklahoma is probably stuck with him a while longer

Oklahoma’s transition to the SEC has been, well, less than stellar to say the least.

The Sooners entered Week 8 at 4-2 (1-2 SEC) as they work through numerous issues with their offense in real time. After wins against Temple, Houston and Tulane to open the year, OU dropped it’s SEC debut to Tennessee, struggled in a win at Auburn then got blown out by Texas in the Red River Rivalry game.

The bad vibes kept getting worse on Saturday as the Sooners fell behind 21-0 at home against South Carolina before heading into halftime down 32-3. Even though head coach Brent Venables is in the all-important third year of his Oklahoma contract — and despite the fact he’s yet to win a bowl game at OU — he’s probably not on the hot seat just yet.

There’s a very simple reason why. According to USA TODAY Sports’ database of college football coaches’ salaries, it would cost Oklahoma $44.8 million to get out of Venables’ contract as of December 2024. It’s the 10th-largest buyout among FBS head coaches.

The Sooners would then have spend millions more hiring a replacement.

It’s a tough situation amid Oklahoma’s transition to the SEC — especially as rival Texas remains undefeated and the No. 1 team in the country after coming over from the Big 12 with the Sooners — but there won’t be a quick fix in Norman.

Oklahoma likely has no choice but to trust (read: hope) Venables can fix this himself.