The Oklahoma Sooners might want to reconsider its pregame entrance after head football coach Brent Venables took a tumble on Friday. Somebody involved with the game day operations in Norman will be tasked with finding a solution prior to the next home game at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium next season. They have a few months to figure it out.
Fortunately, Venables was totally fine and coached the game without issue. Unfortunately, none of his players helped him up!
It all went down in front of a raucous crowd as TCU rolled into town with bowl eligibility on its mind. On the flip side, Oklahoma needed a win to have a shot at the Big 12 Championship.
Venables got off on the wrong foot— literally. He tripped over a metal structure while running onto the field and was (lightly) trampled by a few of his players who were unable to get out of the way or did not see him on the ground.
The 52-year-old stayed down for a moment before he disappeared into the massive cloud of smoke. Nearly 30 seconds passed before Venables finally emerged!
The Sooners went on to defeat the Horned Frogs 69-45, so there were no lingering ramifications from the pregame blunder. However, Venables’ fall does beg the question of why none of his players reached down to pick him back up.
Even though they won, don’t be surprised if they end up having to run on Monday for neglecting their head coach after the tumble. That seems like something that should have been handled in real time. You can’t run over your own coach!
Oh well, things happen. Brent Venables is okay. His team did what they needed to do.
It is still pretty funny to a head coach go down in such dramatic fashion because of a smoke machine. College football is a totally normal sport!