Oklahoma head coach nowhere to be found on ESPN hot seat list

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This time last year, Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables was firmly on the hot seat. After going 6-7 in his first year on the job in 2022, Venables responded with a 10-3 record against a pretty easy schedule in 2023. However, with OU moving to the SEC in 2024, Venables sunk back down to 6-7 in his third year.

That put him on the hot seat entering last season, but he coached his way back to a cool seat approaching Year 5 in 2026. Oklahoma won 10 games in 2025, marching to the College Football Playoff against a brutal SEC slate, especially down the stretch. Though the Sooners lost in the first round to finish 10-3 on the year, it was the program's first playoff trip since 2019, and the first one under Venables' leadership.

With spring football approaching in 2026, ESPN's Adam Rittenberg compiled a list of the coaches who are on the hottest seats in college football entering make-or-break seasons. After being a regular on these types of lists a season ago, Venables is nowhere to be found this year.

However, there are a few former OU assistants and even a former OU head coach that did make Rittenberg's list. Shane Beamer spent three years coaching tight ends in Norman before taking the South Carolina job in 2021. His seat isn't scorching hot yet in Columbia, but after a 4-8 record in 2025, Rittenberg thinks it would be tough for Beamer to overcome a repeat performance in 2026.

Former Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley has a massive buyout at USC, but he needs better results in 2026, or the Trojans could move one from him, just five seasons after swiping him from OU. Though he's probably too expensive to fire unless things really fall off a cliff this year, Southern Cal hasn't won a conference title or made the CFP since he arrived. Rittenberg believes that won't sit well with USC if it continues.

Jeff Lebby was Venables' first offensive coordinator when he got to OU, and that lasted two seasons before he took the Mississippi State job. After a bad first season, the Bulldogs took a step forward under Lebby in 2025, but they still won just five games overall, and won just one game in the SEC. Rittenberg thinks that Lebby needs to make more progress in 2026, and compete better in league play, or he could be in danger in Starkville. Aside from the trio of Beamer, Riley, and Lebby, the only other head coach at the FBS level in 2026 who also coached at OU at one point is Tennessee's Josh Heupel.

As for Venables, he beat Riley to the playoff in the four-year race, and he's done the hard work to build a strong culture and foundation in Norman. His seat has cooled off considerably with his performance in OU's second SEC season. The 55-year old needs another strong season in 2026, and he can't slip back down to six, seven, or eight wins this year, or else the pressure cooker will get turned right back up on him at OU. However, Venables had a lot of doubters heading into last season, and he showed that he was the right man for the job at Oklahoma in 2025.

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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: OU's head coach not on ESPN's CFB hot seat list

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