Brent Venables on Joe Castiglione's upcoming retirement: 'It's bittersweet'
ATLANTA, Georgia — Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione has been synonymous with the program for nearly three decades.
It’s all Brent Venables has ever known, too.
Castiglione announced last week that he will retire as the full-time athletic director at the end of the 2025-26 academic year. Castiglione, who has been in the role since 1998, will eventually transition into an athletic director emertius role.
It’s a big change for the Sooners, and it’s a big change for Venables, too. Venables was on the road when he got the call from Castiglione about his retirement, and he gave his first thoughts on that news during SEC Media Days on Wednesday.
“What more can you say? He’s been at the top of the food chain for a long time,” Venables said. “Nobody’s done it better than Joe Castiglione… He’s represented excellence, humility, great vision, and he was a great friend. Really fortunate to have aligned with him for a long time. My wife and I, we celebrated 28 years of marriage, and 17 of those—going on 18 of those years were done here in Norman.
“The first thing I think about with Oklahoma though, for me and us, is Joe. None of us would be here today; I certainly wouldn’t, Coach Stoops wouldn’t, if it weren’t for his belief in me and us.”
One of Castiglione’s first moves as OU’s athletic director was hiring Bob Stoops as the head football coach. Stoops quickly hired Venables, who served as co-defensive coordinator through 2011. Castiglione then hired Venables as the program’s head coach in November 2021.
Venables has had a long career in college football, and Castiglione has played a big role in that.
“I also look back and the impact that he’s had on so many people at so many different levels, and he’s done it with integrity and class, and he’s made so many people better through his mentorship, through the example that he is,” Venables said. “You look at his athletics director tree, and it’s pretty uncommon. Now, I don’t know what other athletics director trees look like, but I don’t think there are many, if any at all, that are parallel to what he’s been able to accomplish. His motives have been pure. He’s kept the main thing the main thing all along the way.
“He’s been a great partner for so many people. He really, truly, has enriched so many people’s lives through this journey as the athletic director. It’s cool. You celebrate. It’s bittersweet, but I think congratulations is how it all starts. We all want to, ‘OK, that’s what it looks like.’ As he probably said., there’s never a perfect time, but there’s a right time. So, I’m excited for him.”
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