Brent Venables on taking $1 million pay cut: 'I want to help Oklahoma be a winner'
NORMAN — Brent Venables wants Oklahoma to win, and he’s looking to prove it.
The Sooners’ head coach is donating $1 million this season towards the school’s revenue-sharing program, USA Today reported on Friday. Venables, who is in his fourth season at Oklahoma, was set to make $7.55 million this year before his donation.
Speaking after the Sooners’ 35-3 win over Illinois State on Saturday to open the season, Venables said he spoke to his wife, Julie, about the idea before eventually making the decision.
“I don’t know who said it and how it came out at all, and I did it because I think it was the right thing to do,” Venables said. I’ve lived a very favored career, way more than what I deserve and I want to help Oklahoma be a winner and everybody can play a role into that. So Julie and I spoke over several days on what that might look like. So we worked it out with the administration and just think it’s right.”
“The players deserve that. Everything’s different than what it was five, 10, 15 years ago. It’s a very small gesture but I want to send a message to our players but also other donors too. I know how that can really help and I do feel like maybe it did. The buy-in is there. It’s not one sided. It’s all of us together. If we’re going to be successful. It’s going to be the whole program, our fans, our fanbase who are just amazing, our administration, our players, our coaches, it’s going to be all of us together moving forward.
Schools can now directly share up to $20.5 million with athletes following House v. NCAA settlement. Venables joins a few other notable coaches, like Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy and Florida State’s Mike Norvell, who have pledged parts of their salary towards their schools revenue-sharing efforts.
Venables, who is also serving as defensive coordinator and playcaller, said the changing landscape around college football factored heavily into the decision.
“I think that’s a big part of it obviously,” Venables said. “Things have changed and it’s about time. I wish it would’ve happened earlier. I’m not going to get on that soapbox where it didn’t have to be so dramatic all at once because it’s been dramatic as we all know but yeah, things are … it’s not going back.
“We’re in a pretty good place right now and I think we’ll continue to I think leadership is getting a grip on where we need to be and where we need to move going forward so that we have something that’s stable and consistent so that you can have continuity in your program, things of that nature.”
The Sooners defeated Illinois State behind a standout debut from John Mateer, who set a school record for most passing yards in an OU debut with 392. The defense surrendered just 151 yards against Illinois State, including 37 in the second half.
The Sooners host Michigan next Saturday at 6 p.m. (ABC).