Ad Disclosure
Not landing Jim Knowles is a tough blow for Oklahoma, but it won’t determine Brent Venables’ future in Norman
Published:
If Jim Knowles had left national-championship-winning Ohio State for a return to the state of Oklahoma, the defensive duo that he would’ve formed with Brent Venables would’ve been like “The Dream Team.” OK, so maybe they wouldn’t have caused millions of worldwide viewers to watch them and become lifelong fans of a sport like the actual “Dream Team” did in the 1992 Summer Olympics, but Knowles and Venables would’ve been as good of a defensive-minded duo as one could have in the sport.
Ultimately, though, the Philadelphia native opted for a different sort of homecoming by replacing Tom Allen as the defensive coordinator at Penn State.
Go figure that Dabo Swinney poaching Allen from Penn State might’ve prevented his longtime assistant, Venables, from landing Knowles, who operated the nation’s top defense en route to a national title. Well, perhaps Knowles wasn’t as close to returning to the state of Oklahoma — he spent 4 seasons as Mike Gundy’s DC at Oklahoma State — as initially speculated from his word salad answer he offered when asked about the OU defensive coordinator vacancy leading up to the national championship. After all, he got full autonomy of the defense at Penn State, which he wouldn’t have had working with Venables. Knowles also reportedly got a record-setting 3-year, $9.1 million contract at Penn State, which could’ve also played a significant role in that decision.
All we know is that any sort of “Dream Team” comp for OU’s defense came and went following Knowles’ decision to pick Penn State instead of Oklahoma.
It would’ve been an incredibly splashy hire for Venables after 2024 defensive coordinator Zac Alley left for the same position at West Virginia, but that won’t make or break Venables’ time in Norman.
You can react to that by saying, “that’s loser behavior,” or you can claim that the OU hype would’ve skyrocketed if Knowles had come on board after leading consecutive top-2 scoring defenses in Columbus. Honestly, though, that’s not the hire that’ll determine Venables’ future. Giving the 29-year-old who was a high school assistant coach at the start of the decade full autonomy of OU’s revamped offense feels more significant than any move on the defensive side of the ball.
Don’t get it twisted. Knowles would’ve allowed Venables to have less control of the defense and focus more on being the CEO of the program. Only people like Alley, who had play-calling duties, and 2024 captains Danny Stutsman and Billy Bowman could accurately depict just how much Venables oversees on defense. Alley’s move to leave OU for the same position at West Virginia after a successful defensive season leads one to believe that the autonomy factor could’ve played a significant role in that decision.
That’s worth remembering. OU was indeed successful on defense, despite what a losing season would suggest. It allowed less than 5 yards/play (No. 23 in FBS) and for all the questions about how OU would perform in the trenches in its first year in the SEC, it answered that on defense by allowing 3.1 yards/carry vs. conference foes (No. 8 in FBS). And while Stutsman and Bowman are off to the NFL, the likes of Peyton and Eli Bowen, Kip Lewis and R Mason Thomas will return for a unit that should be one of the SEC’s best … again.
But as we saw in 2024, that group can only do so much if the offense can’t tie its own shoes without tripping and falling in a ditch. That’s a generous comp. OU’s 2024 defense could’ve had Venables, Knowles and Bill Belichick, yet it still would’ve only been able to do so much with an offense that made completing forward passes look like solving calculus equations while blindfolded.
What everyone can see is that Venables hasn’t established an offensive identity during his 3 years as a head coach. Or at the very least, he hasn’t established an offensive identity away from the Dillon Gabriel-Jeff Lebby duo, which wasn’t quite as dominant as “The Dream Team,” but it was still capable of being the backbone for headliner victories.
Let’s call it what it is — if Venables whiffs on the packaged Washington State deal of Arbuckle and transfer quarterback John Mateer, his job will be in jeopardy.
Disappointing offenses aren’t tolerated in Norman. Venables knew that when he finally made the plunge to become a head coach after Lincoln Riley snuck off to USC. Sure, he was brought in to overhaul the defensive culture that prevented OU from ascending to national champion status during the Riley era, but the standard was never going to be winning 9 games with an elite defense and a mediocre offense (OU wasn’t close to the latter last season). That would’ve been just the inverse of OU’s DNA under Riley. Whether OU fans admit it or not, that wouldn’t have rid them of the bad taste in their mouths that Riley’s exit left them with.
Entering Year 4 of the Venables era, this should no longer be about winning the breakup with Riley. Knowles would’ve made a promising OU defense even better in 2025, but it wouldn’t have answered a more pressing question than anything Riley-related.
Can Venables lead a true contender in the SEC?
You don’t reach contender status with 1 side of the ball being a total liability, and based on OU’s 70-to-1 odds to win a national title (via DraftKings), there are still questions about that. To Venables’ credit, he made the wholesale changes one needed to after an offensive season not just to forget, but to burn the tapes so that nobody can ever witness that again.
Adding Knowles would’ve given that new-look offense more grace, and perhaps it would’ve helped Venables become a better in-game coach with quarterback changes, key 4th-down decisions, clock management, etc.
But a dream hire wouldn’t have changed Venables’ reality in Norman.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
