Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione's retirement lights a bigger fire under Brent Venables

It was not that big of a shock, but it still sent shockwaves through the wonderful world of college athletics. Long-time Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione is going to step down from his post here soon and will retire. He does plan to stay on in more of a behind-the-scenes athletic director emeritus role, as well as help the University of Oklahoma pick the right successor to replace him.

Castiglione took over as Oklahoma's athletic director in 1998. While the Sooners only have one national championship on the gridiron, this has been one of the most well-run athletic departments across college sports for a very long time. Firmly in his late 60s, it was only a matter of time before a succession plan was put in place for him in Norman. So what could this mean for Brent Venables?

Well, Venables is entering his fourth season as the head football coach. So far, he has had one decent season for Oklahoma standards and two that have been quite unsatisfactory. We are talking about one of the three greatest programs of all time looking like a middle-of-the-pack team in the new SEC. Castiglione paid Venables the big bucks last summer. He is his guy, what about Oklahoma's new AD?

Pete Thamel's reporting for ESPN tells me that Castiglione is going to stick his neck out for Venables.

To me, this feels incredibly decadent. If Venables cannot win with John Mateer and Jaydn Ott as prominent pillars in Ben Arbuckle's offense, when is he ever going to get it right? Again, I am optimistic that OU will put up points and be a far better team this year than last. However, nobody outside of Oklahoma City is putting the Sooners into the projected College Football Playoff field.

Simply put, there has never been a better time than right now for Venables to earn his massive salary.

Brent Venables faces even more pressure with Joe Castiglione retiring

Maybe this was part of the plan all along? It was incredibly odd to see Venables get his mega extension in the middle of last summer when he had not done anything of note at OU up to that point. Keep in mind that Castiglione hired Bob Stoops and Lincoln Riley. Stoops won a national title in year two. Riley had the Sooners in the playoff in each of his first three seasons taking over for Stoops.

Admittedly, so much has changed since Castiglione took over. The John Blake and Howard Schnellenberger eras were disastrous. While the day and age of Barry Switzer and Bud Wilkinson reigning supreme over the rest of the sport are over, I feel Oklahoma can do better than Venables. If not for hurt feelings, maybe former OU quarterback Josh Heupel could come back to Norman soon?

If I were running the show, I would take a long, hard look at who I consider to be the best athletic director in the game today in Danny White and see if he will come over from Tennessee. Not to say that he is certainly going to bring Heupel with him, but they kind of were a package deal to leave UCF not that long ago. Heupel returning to Norman would bring some closure to a dark mark for everyone.

So what really needs to happen for Venables to have long-term security? First thing is, OU needs to win around nine or 10 games and contend for the playoff. They do not have to make it, as the Sooners have arguably the toughest schedule in the country. The team must be led by Arbuckle's offense, but backed up quite nicely by Venables' defense. It is also important who Castiglione hires to replace him.

And this is what I do not like about this even one bit. Castiglione's fingerprints are not only going to be all over the hire, but he is not fading off into the distance either. In a way, this kind of reminds of what may have happened to Wisconsin once Barry Alvarez decided to go behind the scenes. He was a great head coach and athletic director, but Wisconsin has lost its way over the last five years or so.

Ultimately, I think it serves Oklahoma to conduct as wide and as thorough of a search as possible. It may hurt Castiglione to no end, but if coaches like Venables or Porter Moser on the hardwood are reasons why top candidates pass on the OU gig, then maybe do whatever is necessary to create a better opportunity to succeed for the next AD. Just look at what Shahid Khan did to hire Liam Coen.

As long as Castiglione maintains some level of control, Venables will be allowed to stay at Oklahoma.