More Details Revealed About Brent Venables' Oklahoma Contract

The Sooners' new coach has an incentive clause that pays him extra for a seven-win season, and his $43.5 million is buyout-friendly and fully guaranteed.

More details have been reported about Oklahoma coach Brent Venables’ contract.

Base terms of Venables’ six-year, $43.5 million contract — starting at $7 million a year through Jan. 31, 2028 — were originally reported last December, but more details were reported Friday by the Tulsa World and The Oklahoman.

One of those details is a performance incentive for winning seven games. If the Sooners achieve seven wins, Venables, 51, gets a $25,000 bonus. It’s believed to be the first time such a bonus has been written into an OU contract since at least before Bob Stoops was hired.

On the other end of the spectrum, as previously reported, OU will pay Venables $400,000 if the Sooners win the national championship. He’ll also get $100,000 for playing in a conference championship game or $150,000 for winning a conference title, as well as $100,000 for playing in a non-College Football Playoff bowl game, or $150,000 for winning a non-CFP bowl game. Venables gets $250,000 for a CFP appearance, or $300,000 for playing in a national championship game, or $400,000 for winning it all.

Per reports, additional language was added to the contract that good faith negotiations will take place if the CFP field expands.

Another new detail is that the contract is fully guaranteed.

The full contract was released to media on Friday after an open records request.

If Venables wins conference coach of the year, he’ll get an additional $35,000, while if he wins AP, AFCA or Home Depot/ESPN national coach of the year, he’ll get $75,000.

Venables also has an incentive to make sure players go to class and perform: he gets a $25,000 bonus if the team has a cumulative GPA of 3.0 per semester.

OU also added a friendly buyout that is reduced by $1 million a year.

As previously reported, Venables’ base salary is $325,000 and is paid by the university.

The bulk of his compensation ($6.075 million this year) is paid by unrestricted private funds and other outside sources (largely OU donors). That amount is raised by $100,000 a year every February. He also gets a $600,000 annual payment to a supplemental retirement income plan.

The Sooners are 4-3 so far this season and currently on an open date. OU’s next game is next Saturday at Iowa State.