Sooners and defensive coordinator Ted Roof mutually agree to part ways
The Oklahoma Sooners will head into the SEC with new offensive and defensive coordinators. The program announced on Thursday that Brent Venables and Ted Roof mutually agreed to part ways.
Roof spent the last two seasons teaching Venables’ new scheme. Venables said in a press release:
“Ted is an incredibly knowledgeable coach and teacher, and his players love playing for him. Our program is thankful for his extreme dedication the last two seasons and for helping make us better.”
Venables said in the release that he told Roof on Wednesday he would be moving in another direction and asked if Roof wanted to stay on in a different role. He told Venables he has a deep desire to keep coaching and will look to do that at a different school.
The Sooners displayed much improvement in Year 2 under Roof. After ranking 98th in scoring defense (30 ppg) and 121st in total defense (461 ypg) in 2022, OU improved in both categories in 2023, ranking 46th (23.5 ppg) and 78th (389.4 ypg), respectively.
The defense ranked second nationally in interceptions (20), sixth in turnovers gained (26), seventh in tackles for loss per game (7.5) and 14th in third-down conversion percentage defense (.311; up from .409 in 2022).
The search for the defensive coordinator position will begin immediately per Venables.
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