Why Oklahoma’s Brent Venables is Slashing His Own Salary: The Shocking Truth Revealed

Brent Venables—Oklahoma’s head coach and a man who just penned a hefty six-year, $51.6 million deal last summer—has thrown a curveball that few saw coming: he’s taking a $1 million pay cut. Why, you ask, would a top-tier coach willingly slash his own paycheck? It turns out Venables’ decision is less about personal sacrifice and more about feeding the beast behind the scenes—revenue sharing. Yes, that steely investment in media rights, NIL deals, and everything else that keeps college football’s economic engine humming. At 54, Venables is showing he’s game beyond the X’s and O’s, willing to chip in to keep Oklahoma competitive financially—without undercutting his full contract. It’s a rare glimpse into the complex dance between sports passion and financial strategy. Makes you wonder: in a world obsessed with big contracts, who really holds the power—the coach or the bottom line? As the Sooners prepare to right the ship after a rocky debut SEC season, Venables’ move adds an intriguing subplot to their story. LEARN MORE.

Brent Venables, the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners, signed a six-year, $51.6 million contract with the program in the summer of 2024. Despite signing that deal, reports indicate that Venables is taking a pay cut.

The 54-year-old head coach is taking a $1 million pay cut because that money is going toward revenue sharing, per Steve Berkowitz of USA Today. The money will be used to help with media rights, NIL deals, and everything else in between.

“The University of Oklahoma and football head coach Brent Venables agreed to a new contract that includes a $1 million reduction in his pay for the 2025 season, according to a copy of the document obtained by USA TODAY Sports on Friday, Aug. 29, through an open-records request.”

It’s said that the decision was made by Brent Venables, as he wanted to give back to the program’s revenue-sharing opportunities. A spokesman of the Oklahoma athletics department explained that it is a one-time payment for the veteran head coach.

“‘It was initiated by Coach Venables as a one-time give-back to contribute to the department’s revenue-sharing efforts,’ an Oklahoma athletics department spokesman said.”

The decision will not affect the rest of Venables’ contract, as his deal is expected to remain the same outside of the $1 million he’s paying back to the Oklahoma football program to help with revenue sharing.

In the meantime, Brent Venables and the Sooners are going to focus on the upcoming season. Oklahoma will hope to improve upon its 6-7 record from the 2024-25 campaign. It was a rough year for the program, as the team just couldn’t get the ball rolling in its first year in the SEC.

Despite the poor season, Oklahoma enters the upcoming campaign as the No. 18 program in the nation. The Sooners have a Week 1 opener against the Illinois State Red Birds, which should be a nice tune-up game for Brent Venables and his team.

The post The reason Oklahoma HC Brent Venables is taking a pay cut appeared first on ClutchPoints.