Brent Venables stopped himself mid-conversation. He does that sometimes. He stood up from the seating area in the middle of his office to grab a football off the wall.

He walked back, ball in hand, and set it on the ottoman. It commemorated Oklahoma’s 13-2 win over Florida State in the 2001 BCS National Championship Game and served as a reminder of the Sooners’ perfect 2000 season under Bob Stoops. Venables was the co-defensive coordinator on that team.

“We were the winningest program in college football while I was here for 13 years the first time,” Venables said. “And it was a rebuild.

“Talk about that first year of being 7-5 (in 1999). Then we went 12-0. A very fortunate 12-0 — we had a lot of close wins — then to (one of the) biggest underdogs in the history of college football national championships. Not only did we win, we shut them out and then we go on this amazing run from there. We did it with a bunch of misfits who became a blend of national award winners.”

The ball sat on that ottoman for the remainder of the interview, but nothing with Venables is rehearsed. He’s an eccentric personality whose passion rushes out while talking with arm movements, exuberant facial expressions and even, sometimes, props. But in that moment, you could see his powerful sales pitch to the recruits who sit in this same office. Venables believes Oklahoma will win big again, and perhaps that’s why the Sooners managed to sign the No. 4 recruiting class in the 247Sports Composite in the 2023 cycle despite struggling through a 6-7 season in the coach’s first year.

The beauty of Venables’ point is that he didn’t have to directly compare the two situations. He didn’t even bother to connect the dots. He just simply illustrated how much progress can be made from Year 1 to Year 2 if things are built on a sturdy foundation with a hungry coaching staff and a roster that’s completely bought in.

“I was just an assistant,” he said, sarcastically. “I know I didn’t have anything to do with it.”