SEC Media Days: Oklahoma HC Brent Venables Says SEC Won't Change Red River Rivalry

The Sooners head coach spoke to the press at SEC Media Days for the first time on Tuesday, answering various questions about OU's transition.

Head coach Brent Venables runs an Oklahoma football practice in Norman, Okla., on Friday, April 12, 2024. / NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY

DALLAS — On Tuesday afternoon, Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables took the podium for SEC Media Days.

Venables told reporters that he was excited for OU to join what he described as the strongest conference in college athletics after the move was originally announced over three years ago.

While the Sooners head coach acknowledged that his team's transition will be difficult due to the strength of the SEC, Venables mentioned that Oklahoma's roster has the strongest group of leaders since the former Clemson defensive coordinator took over as OU's head coach.

The Sooners aren't the only team who have to adjust to a more difficult schedule, however, as the Texas Longhorns join the SEC with their arch rivals. On Tuesday, Venables was asked about how transitioning into a new conference would change Oklahoma's historic matchup against the Longhorns.

"It's as deep-seated and hate-filled and emotional of a rivalry as there is in all of college football," Venables said. "So I don't see how the conference affiliation will make a big difference. What I would say is that, you know, that's one of many games that you're going to have to find a way to grind it out. If you think that one is emotionally taxing, you're going to go into a lot of venues that the pageantry is going to be real, the stadiums are going to be completely full and a lot of people are going to hate your guts for three hours or so. So I don't see it diminishing that series and the emotion and the pageantry, the intensity of it whatsoever."

The Sooners' head coach pointed out that his team will have a tough matchup every week in the SEC and that now, their contest against Texas is one of multiple challenging weeks in what will be a continuously grueling schedule.

Despite the challenging schedules that await both programs, Venables seemed confident that Oklahoma and Texas will be fitting additions to the SEC.

"I think it's a partnership of elite with elite," Venables said. Two programs that in the history of college football take a back seat to nobody. The SEC doesn't take a back seat to anybody. From our leadership to the quality of the teams -- and, really, it's every single athletic team on those campuses; it's unmatched. And so we both have programs that have had elite-level success with all of our athletic programs, certainly football included. And I just think it fortifies what was already the strongest conference in all of college football."

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