Oklahoma
‘Real Change’ is Coming for Oklahoma, Starting With a New OC ‘In the Next Few Days’
BATON ROUGE, LA — Oklahoma’s football season ended on Saturday night in the bayou with a quick look at the past and a long look at the future.
After OU ended the year with a 37-17 loss at LSU — putting a miserable finish on a miserable 6-6 season — head coach Brent Venables was asked to examine the full scope of the program and assess where and how it can get better.
First and foremost, Venables said, is hiring a new offensive coordinator.
“Obviously we’re gonna, in the next few days or so, we’ll hire a new coach on offense and kind of get that sorted out,” Venables said. “I think that’s important as well. And then we have a signing day in a few days (Wednesday), and the transfer portal is going to open up (the following week), and it’ll be — we’ll be like about everybody in the country, where there’s going to be some real change.
“And some of it is by design, and some of it will be a surprise. That’s just, that’s the world we live in. It’s open-ended free agency. So we’ve been working for this moment, for the last several months, in anticipation of the signing period and the transfer portal opening up — and have a good evaluation of where we’re at.”
Venables’ bottom line: Oklahoma needs to get better — a lot better — and will have several avenues by which to accomplish that.
“That’s been a constant evaluation during the course of the season to identify the places from a roster standpoint that we need to improve and get better as well in the next seven days,” he said.
It’s expected that Venables will announce his offensive coordinator possibly as early as Sunday, though Monday fits more closely with the logistics.
But there will be plenty of talking with recruits about his decision — no doubt he’ll let them know who he’s chosen ahead of Wednesday — and then their signing day will continue the immediate offensive rebuild.
“There’s a lot of careful planning that goes into the things talked about,” Venables said. “We’ve worked over, you know, for almost two years with the signing class, and really incredibly excited about the guys going to sign this next week, and feel like they’ll be able to to have great opportunity to come in and help make us better right away.
“For the last, you know, couple of months, been working on finding the right fit for us from a coaching standpoint, and feel that we’re going to be in a great position, a strong position, to make us better with that higher so feel really good about that.”
Venables also said he will not be surprised as current players on this year’s roster work their way into his office to let him know about their decision to enter the transfer portal or stay. It may seem like a tight window with the season ending on Saturday and the portal officially opening a week and a half later, but Venables doesn’t see it that way.
“I don’t think it’s a tight window for the transfers. Actually, they still got a big window,” he said. “But we’ve been planning for this for last several months, so I won’t be surprised with anything — knowing that there are going to be a few surprises. I expect there to be, and I’m okay with that.”
Venables said he was proud of the improvement the players on this year’s team showed throughout the season, though he acknowledged that improvement was not linear.
Such as throttling Alabama last week in Norman, but losing to both Missouri and LSU — who lost to the Crimson Tide by a combined score of 76-13.
Venables often talks about handling success — and this squad clearly did not handle the success of beating Alabama very well at all. Venables did add, however, that he didn’t see Saturday’s uneven performance coming during the Sooners’ week of practice.
“It was really good,” he said. “I told them, ‘I wish I could say I told you so, like, we had crappy practices, we didn’t put in the extra time, or we weren’t invested, we didn’t have a passion (and) intensity about us all week, or even today,” Venables said. “But that wasn’t it. I think that would be just too easy to blame it on that. I thought our guys — our leadership — did a great job, our coaches, did a really good job, and we just couldn’t put it together tonight.”
OU concludes its first season in the SEC with a 2-6 record — its worst in conference play, by winning percentage, since 1931.
Still, Venables sounds resolute — both about this squad making immediate strides before a bowl game (that’ll be announced a week from Sunday) as well as jumping into a brighter future.
“I do know, without question, that there’s a bunch of guys on both sides of the ball that made improvement here this back half of the season,” he said. “We’ve talked about that a lot, and so continue to do those things.
“We’ll be practicing for the next several weeks, and with the idea that we’re going to improve the football team fundamentally through hard work. That’s where the progress is going to come from: putting your head down and going right back to work, doing the things that we need to do in order to improve just a daily focus of getting better.
“Again, a lot to be disappointed (about) at the end of the day. Being disappointed in being (6-6) that’s, you know, far below our standards.
“And so we got a lot of work to do, and I got a lot of — once we get some of these big decisions and moments and things on our on our schedule here out of the way — you know, go back and look at every area of our program where we need to be better.”
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is searching for 37-year-old Joshua Rael.
Friday, May 30th 2025, 9:30 am
By:
News 9
OKLAHOMA CITY –
Police across the Oklahoma City metro are searching for a missing 37-year-old man.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says Joshua Rael has autism and schizophrenia and was last seen in Oklahoma City.
OHP says Rael is roughly 5’8″ with black hair and brown eyes, and has star tattoos on both arms.
If you see Rael, you are asked to call 911.
The state’s Organized Crime Task Force confiscates more than 40,000 marijuana plants and 1,000 pounds of processed marijuana in a grow bust in Mayes and Craig counties.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond says they started investigating when several out-of-state vehicles were spotted hauling untagged marijuana in Vinita.
Image Provided By: OCTF
“The Organized Crime Task Force and its partner agencies across the state are having a meaningful impact attacking the illegal marijuana trade that has infiltrated Oklahoma since the 2018 legalization of medical marijuana,” Drummond said. “The Chinese crime syndicates and Mexican drug cartels are getting the message loud and clear that they are not welcome in Oklahoma. We will not let up until this scourge is erased from our state.”
Image Provided By: OCTF
AG Drummond said authorities found six guns and three silencers. ICE detained 15 people at the scene.
35-year-old Chinese national Qi Chen is now facing drug manufacturing and trafficking charges.
Authorities say the investigation began in early June, when multiple vehicles with out-of-state tags were seen hauling untagged processed marijuana from various sites in Vinita.
Oklahoma
In Northwest Division, NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder get deeper, Jazz get busy, Wolves go big
After building an NBA championship team with a commitment to young player development, the Oklahoma City Thunder dived back into the draft pool a few days after the celebration.
The Thunder used the 15th overall pick in the first round on Wednesday night on Thomas Sorber, a 6-foot-9 versatile defender with the potential to be an effective low-post scorer who played one season in college at Georgetown.
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Sorber can provide some bulk and depth behind the slender Chet Holmgren and his frontcourt partner, Isaiah Hartenstein. Oklahoma City also had the 24th pick, sending it to Sacramento in a proposed trade.
General manager Sam Presti’s trades in recent years have allowed the Thunder to stockpile picks for maximum control over the most unpredictable aspect of professional sports. They have as many as 10 first-round picks, including their own, over the next five years, including three in 2026. Last year’s first-rounder, point guard Nikola Topic, is nearly recovered from a torn ACL in his left knee that kept him out for his entire rookie season.
The Utah Jazz, who bottomed out this season with the worst record in the league, have a long way to go with their rebuild. After bad lottery luck left them with the fifth overall pick, they took wing Ace Bailey, who spent his only college season at Rutgers.
“I feel like I can improve on everything. I’m very young,” Bailey told reporters. “I’m just coming to the game, so it’s a lot of stuff I can improve, physically and mentally. I mean, from jump shots to more creativity, to more ballhandling, just all over the place.”
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The Jazz later moved up from 21st to 18th in a proposed trade with Washington that netted them point guard Walter Clayton Jr. from national champion Florida, a 22-year-old whose ball skills and clutch shooting were on full display throughout the NCAA Tournament.
The Portland Trail Blazers moved down from 11th to 16th in a proposed trade with Memphis that landed them another big man, the 7-foot-2 Yang Hansen.
With a young group led by Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara, Shaedon Sharpe, Scoot Henderson and Donovan Clingan, the Blazers finished a better-than-expected 36-46 this season. They recently acquired two-time All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday from Boston for Anfernee Simons.
The Minnesota Timberwolves went big, too, with the 18-year-old project Joan Beringer at No. 17. He’s from France, like veteran Rudy Gobert, the four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
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Denver Nuggets
One team that could’ve used a pick on Wednesday was Denver, which owed its first-rounder to Orlando as part of the 2021 trade for Aaron Gordon.
The Nuggets, who recently reorganized their front office, don’t have a second-rounder, either. They’re counting on a contribution this season from DaRon Holmes, their 2024 first-rounder who missed his rookie year following Achilles tendon surgery, but they could use more depth around superstar Nikola Jokic, point guard Jamal Murray and Gordon.
Utah Jazz
Needs: Dominant scorer, ball-handling guard.
Drafted: Ace Bailey, wing, Rutgers. Walter Clayton Jr., point guard, Florida. Bailey can shoot from anywhere on the court and should give the Jazz some future scoring punch. Clayton ought to be better-suited to immediately contribute after a standout four-year college career that included a run to this year’s NCAA championship.
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Current NBA player comparisons: Paul George (Bailey), Coby White (Clayton).
Portland Trail Blazers
Needs: 3-point shooter, perimeter depth.
Drafted: Yang Hansen, center, China. Somewhat of a surprise at No. 16 overall after a proposed trade with Memphis, the 19-year-old Hansen at 7-foot-1 led the Chinese Basketball Association in blocks.
Current NBA player comparison: Zach Edey.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Needs: Frontcourt player with bulk, 3-point shooting wing.
Drafted: Thomas Sorber, power forward, Georgetown. His 6-foot-9, 263-pound frame filled a need for a bigger body as a backup to Chet Holmgren at power forward or to play alongside him when bulky center Isaiah Hartenstein is resting. Sorber’s natural strength and long arms make him an effective rebounder and shot-blocker who can also finish at the rim with the ball.
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Current NBA player comparison: Kevon Looney.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Needs: Pass-first point guard, center with scoring touch.
Drafted: Joan Beringer, center, France. The 6-foot-11 project just picked up the game four years ago after switching from soccer and will have an ideal mentor in Rudy Gobert.
Current NBA player comparison: Jaxson Hayes.
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AP Sports Writers Cliff Brunt in Oklahoma City and Anne M. Peterson in Portland, Oregon, contributed.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
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