Oklahoma HC Brent Venables on joining SEC, being an 'ICONIC' program & MORE | The Paul Finebaum Show

Intro and Coach Venable joining us and Coach thank you very much for being yeah thanks for our first guest yeah great day today great day today this this crowd is fired up and uh I want to start just by talking about you for a second uh you're I'll let them talk for a second but uh the uh the university here absolutely thrill with that your season last year and they just gave you a new On joining the SEC contract extension I'm I'm sure that feels pretty good yeah I mean I relationship with uh president Harris and Joe castig Leon two of the best leaders in in all of College athletics um uh you know their belief in not only myself but our coaches and what we've been able to do in two short years is uh it's everything it's going to take everybody and to have their uh their endorsement at this time going into the SEC means a lot to all of us coach uh everywhere I've gone lately uh Oklahoma fans have asked me hey do you think we're SEC ready and I'm like going yeah I mean this I mean Oklahoma doesn't need to uh explain itself I mean walking through that that Trophy Room a couple weeks ago when I was here I mean I was literally blown away I mean I know you're not you you're you're part of this program uh for many many years but uh let's talk about where this program is right now yeah I mean again since since you gave gave us the uh uh the platform to to do so we're going to brag on ourselves but but this it really is it's one of the top five legendary iconic Winn program in the history of college football and so you know you know this is a program whether it's the 47 game winning streak or the most conference championships in the history of college football the national championships all the Heisman Trophy winners uh the countless um players that are now in the Hall of Fame both Pro Football Hall of Fame the College Football Hall of Fame uh the consensus all-americans again you just start going through the draft picks things of that nature this program stands on its own two legs and now you get Elite matching up with Elite and an elite program like Oklahoma has been for over a hundred years matching up with the best brand and the best uh league in all of college football the SEC coach I mean I I knew it was storyed uh because obviously I know a lot about uh coach Switzer and and Bob stops and and what has happened since but I had the opportunity to spent some time at lunch today with a couple of members of of Bud Wilkinson's team from from that 47 game winning streak and it was it was remarkable just I mean just I'm rarely just Stone silent but I I sat back the starting quarterback on that team and I mean to think about the two winning streaks over a several year period it's part of Oklahoma folkore but uh that's that's pretty rich no doubt and uh again as we said it takes a backseat to nobody but it's again over a 100 years so uh Expectations for the upcoming season there's plenty of programs that have had had you know Elite level success for for periods of time but for get close to 130 years this program has has represented um in this game as well as anybody let's talk about this upcoming season because that's what fans obviously care about in two weeks from now we'll we'll see you in Dallas and uh the questions will be fast and furious but I mean it feels like last year answered the questions but what what do you expect coming up well again you know this year is obviously incredibly important we've worked really hard the last couple of years trying to prepare for this moment but what's sitting in front of us right now is trying to put be put together the best roster that we can and have these guys as well prepared as we can you're going to figure out a lot you're going to learn a lot uh through this transition but you know this is isn't as much about where we're going as who we're going in with and it's not as much about proving people wrong as we are trying to prove each other right and uh we've worked really really hard though at you know both our programming our roster um vision of our program for both the short term and the long term to to what we need to do to transition to the SEC but incredibly exciting this is this will be the most unforgiving League uh there is in America and that goes without saying uh this is a league that um is really really hard top to bottom uh and and the margin for air is very small so it's thin air if you will but U that's what this program has been about for a long time uh we're running towards the SEC and um uh with with with great ex uh expectations and excitement and uh and again this will be a launching point for this program moving forward I mean there are coaches who who who could talk their way through an answer like this but but you have the experience when you were at Clemson the was always getting in your way and uh I don't know the exact number but the record was pretty good against the SEC yeah well again didn't have to play week in and week out but uh certainly have an understanding of the footprint geographically um the recruiting uh competitiveness the commitment um uh that is is there from a facility from a roster from a coaching staff uh the intensity and the passion uh from top to bottom in that League from the fan bases uh unmatched uh in all of college athletic so all of those things are going to bring the best out in US is what I believe Co I know SEC schedule coaches look at schedules I was with your colleague in Austin last night and he was he was focused on that first game I don't even remember who it was against but that was the hard that's how coaches operate but you you know what you know what's in front of you um there's a Sense Media wise that you you got the worst schedule in the SEC do that filter in I mean I can't imagine coaches getting too hung up on anything other than what's in front of them we recognize there will be several games that come down to the last Drive of the game um that's the SEC top to bottom as you taken the last several months to really okay what's in front of us right now and looking at that League top to bottom incredibly competitive um preaching to the choir I know that and uh so how can we you know what are the things that it's going to take um outside of just being good on your roster uh you know so all the efficiencies and all the the different things um that it takes to win games whether that's turnover margin or or 4 minute or two minute or Red Zone all those types of things um really are going to play a huge part into into this season and you know for us we recognize you know as we've been building buing our roster in the most uh tumultuous time in college football history from a stability standpoint on a roster we've we've worked hard to try to um you know help ourselves in in every area but if you're going to win at the highest level in the SEC you're going to win it because of the trenes coach this is just observation I'm not trying to pit anyone against each other but I was in Austin last night for the welcome there and I I hold on I was curious about something uh because I I I kept hearing I heard the quarterback Quinn years talk about we're the ones everybody wants to beat and then I heard some of some bravado from the administrators which I understand and I said I guess it was Texas that had uh that's won what in the last 25 years 11 Big 12 championships in Oklahoma only three and then I realized I had that reversed you guys have you guys you guys really don't need to explain yourself out here this is this is not a program that Johnny come lately this is a program that's been established for a very very long time and uh no doubt there is and uh so you know again we don't look at other programs to try to compare ourselves to and doesn't do us any good we focus inside out and the things that we need to do to be a an SEC Championship caliber football program and so that's where that's where our focus is before you go uh fans want to know what's what this team is going to look like and I know for you you're going to take a break from it before you get back but for for the fans who I have to admire you see I mean I got I got hot just getting out of the the golf cart and walking up here kudos to all of you um but let's let's start with with your offense I know you like your quarterback yeah I love again where we're at um we've got tremendous experience coming back at the skill position certainly Jackson This will be his first full season Jackson is his talent of a player as there is in college football he's a winner he's won his whole life smart guy great s he's got a tremendous skill set he's got great toughness to him he can run it he can throw it uh and again this is a game of development and so wherever he ended the season um we had a lot of opportunities to win that game wherever he ended uh the season last year in his first Collegiate start he'll be he'll be on another planet and um my expectation is wherever we start at the beginning of the year he'll he'll develop and get better he's tough he's got um a great self-awareness to him he's got all the traits that allow you to kind of have to go through it both the the good and the bad and he responds to adversity and uh just a tremendous leader the players play hard for him and as a pundit I said this a couple of times years ago I said if Oklahoma only had a defense there's no telling how many national champions they would have won Under someone else well they have a defense now well we we're making we've made steady Improvement it's been incremental can't ever happen fast enough you're never satisfied but I love this will be the you know year three first time that we've had a third-year players within our system give or take seven or eight starters back so we have some experience within our schemes we've developed in the weight room all of our programming this will be our going on our third year and so that's the weight room that's nutrition uh nutrition that's recovery all of those areas that are incredibly important but I I love our Buy in the investment that the players that we have in that lock room this is a very highly invested football team several guys you know chose to come back they wanted to help lead us uh this year I think you know there's multi layered reasons why guys has come back but one of those reasons was to you know to leave your mark and uh so have an opportunity to do that going to the SEC with a group of guys that are committed and tough hardworking guys uh really exciting well it has begun and let's hear it for Coach vable thank you coach thank you very much appreciate it thank [Music] you just so I can breing [Music] so