Everything Brent Venables Said Monday On Seth Littrell and Oklahoma's Staff Changes

The Sooners' head coach talked at length during his weekly coach's show about his decision to fire his offensive coordinator and replace him on staff with analyst Kevin Johns.

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables / John E. Hoover / Sooners On SI

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables talked Monday night on his weekly coach’s show, “Sooner Sports Talk With Brent Venables,” about his decision to fire offensive coordinator Seth Littrell and replace him with tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley and offensive analyst Kevin John.

Here’s everything Venables said about the situation:

“Well, a lot goes into you making those types of changes. And there's a — it's over the last several months. There's a body of work that you look at all of it and evaluate it. And obviously we haven't played winning football, you know, on offense. And so you always go back and look at why. And there's certainly, you know, we know what some of the issues have been from a roster standpoint and injury standpoint, and those are very real, without question. But, at the end of the day, you know, you look at, OK, if we continue to do what we've been doing, you know, there's a good chance we're going to continue to have the same results. 

“And so I think about, again and again, this goes way back — all the way to the very beginning of of spring and winter and all that, and through the summer and then the season itself. And I, again, I look at everything from, you know, game plan, play design, sequencing, leadership, you know, the details, the little things. And then I look at, you know, what our players have been doing. Are they — are we straining? Are we showing up (and) competing at practice? We competing hard in the game? I'm not saying play perfect, you know. You know, do we know what we're doing? All of those things go into it.

“And at the end of the day, just felt that, you know, I gave it its time. You know? Where I didn't feel like there was — I was rushing to judgment and everything doesn't fall at the feet of coach Littrell either. I would be remiss if I didn't say that. And incredibly hard, because, you know, so many people are affected. There's a real domino effect. But the end of the day, I got to do what's best for the players and certainly the program, and that's what ultimately led to, you know, the decision. 

“And so it's a change in leadership, a change in the voice. It's a change in, again, game planning, it's a change in perspective. It's a change in the coaching, it's a change in the sequencing on game day, all of those types of things. And again, maybe it provides the spark, too. And maybe, you know, I know that we're somewhere in the hundreds in all the different categories, and it's, you know, completely unacceptable and embarrassing and well below the standard. And it doesn't, you know, reflect, who Oklahoma has been for a really long time. I had a historical lens that I got to look at. 

“And so I know that there's lots of teams around college football — you know, there's 20 of them, I don't know — but there's lots of teams that have similar-type issues. You know, you have injuries, maybe you have a young quarterback, maybe have a new offensive line, and you got some guys banged up there, and there's a continuity thing, and then you have several guys on offense that are in their first year, whether they're an older guy or a younger guy. And so I look at that, but I know that we're not the only ones. But why are we historically not where we need to be? 

“And there's been some improvement. It's been incredibly incremental. You don't sound right by saying that, because at the end of the day, the result has been the result, and it's all crap. And so for me, I've got to, again, look out for everybody else. And even, you know, it — maybe it provides a spark, maybe it creates a little more edge, although I've felt like we've had great engagement and great will to invest week in and week out by both the players and the staff. But maybe this provides a little bit of a spark.

“And again, there will be real change. You know, the things that I just said will be different, even though there's people that are still here on that side of the ball. And the things that I said are very real, the things that can be different and maybe better and maybe it's whether it's a placebo effect or not, I do believe, if we just make some incremental improvement, play to our potential, do the things that the game requires you to do in order to execute and win — No. 1, take care of the ball. And our three losses, you know, we didn't take care of the ball. And we had opportunities to score when we did turn the ball over, and we didn't … punish people. 

“And this week was a great example that was one-sided in those turnovers — they score, and we don't provide those opportunities, it can get out of hand in a hurry. So again, all those things went into it, and you know, again, for me and for our staff, again, you know, I've got to do a great job from a leadership standpoint of, you know, calling it exactly like it is, and there's got to be accountability. And our guys know that. 

“And, you know, there's nobody that was quote-unquote surprised by it, you know. It was received. And we move forward and so I'm really excited about what I saw. Had a team meeting yesterday, and it, you know, there was a surprise there. You know, these are young guys that are looking for, you know, ‘What do we do next?’ And so, you know, again, we've got to be, again, confident and aggressive and sure of what we're doing. And our guys, you know, the staff-wise, have done a great job. You know, just a very short amount of time, responded the right way. 

“And obviously, we've promoted both Kevin Johns and Joe Jon. You know, Kevin, when he got here, was hired later in the winter, early spring, as an analyst. Coaches — off the field coaches were not allowed to coach. So he was doing, he was … looking at advanced scouting and not really in the nuts and the bolts of the X’s and the O’s and learning all the new language and things, although he'll pick up some things, but that wasn't his forte. He wasn't breaking down games and having to prepare stuff day-to-day for the coaches. He's more of an advance-scout guy, and so our guys in-house were, you know, the guys that can coach — GA's and things like that, they're more in the nuts and the bolts, as far as the X’s and the O’s and the verbiage and things like that. 

“And we know, again, I think it's been well documented what, you know, Kevin's resume, what his resume is, and the success that he's had, and the exposure that he's had at several places, whether that was at Texas Tech or it was at Indiana for several years, where they they broke 55-plus Big Ten records and led the Big Ten in scoring when he was the OC and quarterbacks coach, I think maybe ’16, ’17. And the development piece that's really there, he understands everywhere he's had to maybe do more with less. I love that about coaching. You know, when you see people have success at places where maybe they don't always have the best resources, but you're able to maximize guys, and you're essentially putting guys in position to be successful. 

“And that was, again, behind this decision that we got to maybe do again, whatever that looks like, a better job of putting our guys in position to be successful and everybody — there's always a collaboration. But you know what? We have figured out what doesn't work. I know that. You know there's certain things that haven't worked. And so you push those to the side and try to lean in some expertise. And again, Kevin has that experience at, again, several places. Very good track record at Memphis as well and at Duke, you know, again, places where, again, you got to really get after it and work and recruit and develop and really high level success. 

“Offensively, super bright. And he and I deal — we work together a lot. Have because he's he helps me (in) a lot of different spaces, special teams and defense. Just I work through him. I got different ideas and things that I know are hard on a defense, and I studied the other opponents’ defense. And I know these are things that work and can expose them, and if they fit, you know, our game plan, then he puts things together in a presentation, to to the staff, and then they put — pick and choose what, you know, they like out of that that fits this week. 

“But he and Joe Jon will work together and with, again, with the rest of staff. Everybody has a role. But those will be the kind of the two voices putting stuff together. And then,  Joe Jon, you know, will call it on game day.”