Oklahoma Sooners coach Brent Venables and Arizona Wildcats coach Jedd Fisch meet the press on Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023, to talk about Thursday's Alamo Bowl in San Antonio.
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00:00 Thank you for joining us today for the head coach's press conference for the
00:03 2023 Valero Alamo Bowl. It's my pleasure to welcome the head coach of Arizona,
00:07 Jed Fish, and the head coach for Oklahoma, Brett Venables. Let's begin with an
00:12 opening statement from Coach Fish. Well thank you and thank you to Valero and
00:16 the Valero Alamo Bowl has been a fantastic week. It has been, we got here
00:22 on the 23rd and everybody has just been phenomenal. The city of San Antonio,
00:27 everybody that works with the Alamo Bowl, so just wanted to say thank you first
00:33 and foremost. Thank you to all of the media that came over their Christmas
00:37 holiday to come cover us and join us. We're certainly excited. Our team's
00:42 ready to go. It has been a while since we played a game so you know those guys
00:48 have been practicing 14, 15 times and I think all they want to do now is play
00:53 another team and not look at one another. So we know we got an incredible opponent
00:58 ahead of us. Oklahoma has done an amazing job this year, amazing job in years past,
01:04 and it is a true blue blood of college football. So the opportunity for us to
01:09 play them, we don't take lightly. We're very grateful for that and we know they
01:14 got a heck of a team so we're gonna have to bring our very best tomorrow evening
01:18 and we hope it's in front of a sold-out crowd. So if you haven't gotten your
01:22 tickets yet, buy now. Thank you coach. Coach Vandibos. Again, good morning
01:27 everybody and appreciate everybody being here. Again, thanks. I'd reiterate
01:31 everything Coach Fisch said in regards to San Antonio, amazing city, as we all
01:38 know, incredibly hospitable. Thank you to Derek Fox and the Alamo Bowl Valero
01:42 committee. Just a wonderful week, a great opportunity to have some free time where
01:49 we could meet the other staff and get a chance to share and what you
01:55 go through during the course of a season and really appreciate
02:01 the opportunity to play a quality opponent like Arizona. This is
02:05 a team that again, as we've said, is as hot as anybody in college
02:09 football right now. I have a great deal of respect and appreciation for what
02:13 Coach Fisch and his staff have done, what their players have done. They've
02:17 developed things the right way, recruited these guys and kept them there and
02:22 developed them and have gone through some tough moments as they built
02:26 their program. They can play with anybody, I think they've shown
02:30 that this season and we've talked about it constantly. Our guys are
02:34 excited to play. We got 70 scholarship players that are committed to
02:39 finishing what they started and really excited about what we've seen
02:43 and an opportunity for the 129th team in Oklahoma history to have a chance to go
02:50 after an 11th win. What a blessing that is. It's been done 27 times in Oklahoma's
02:54 history and tied with Alabama. We've got a great opportunity against a
02:58 fantastic opponent, easily one of the best matchups in all the bowl season.
03:04 Looking forward to tomorrow night.
03:07 Nathan Thompson, Fox 23 in Tulsa for Coach Venables.
03:12 Two years ago you were the head coach but didn't coach this game. I remember
03:16 you watching intently from the sideline. Coach Stoops pulled you up on the podium
03:19 afterwards to celebrate being back here. Does that bring back fond memories and
03:23 have you had a chance yet to kind of take stock and how much your life has
03:26 changed in two years? I really haven't. It seems like dog years, seems like a
03:32 decade ago that that took place. I'll be honest, it was a very cool moment for me.
03:37 As I've said before, Coach Stoops recruited me. I'm 17 years old and
03:42 that's constantly one of the many messages that we promote to our players,
03:45 that your relationships is what real enrichment in your life and
03:49 opportunity and the pathways that are going to come from those relationships.
03:53 So, incredibly indebted to Coach Stoops, certainly to Joe Castiglione and
03:58 President Joe Harris and their belief in myself and our staff and all the support
04:03 that we've been given. We've been through, gone through a lot like a lot of people
04:08 in college football. What a time, Coach Fish, to make your head coaching debut
04:13 right in the middle of a real storm, if you will. But it's been a real
04:19 blessing, been a lot of fun, a lot of growth, a lot has changed since that time.
04:23 But a really cool moment to be back here in San Antonio. It brings up a lot of
04:28 those memories from that night for sure. Can we go middle?
04:36 Coach Fish, I wanted to ask you, from an outsider's perspective, can you look at
04:40 what Oklahoma's done under Brent in the last two years, everything he's had to do
04:43 to turn around, how much do you appreciate that? And then for Brent, same
04:47 scenario with what Coach Fish has done in three years, building a one-win team
04:52 and turn it around like they did. Yeah, well I have a ton of respect for Coach
04:56 Venables, both when he was a defensive coordinator for years and we had dinner
05:02 together the other night and I said, how many of these head coaching jobs did you
05:05 turn down? Because he is at the highest of high levels of coaches and so when he
05:10 chose to come to Oklahoma, it was one of those programs you want to
05:14 monitor, you want to watch, you want to see how quickly will he put his stamp on
05:20 the program. And I think that's what it comes down to. It's not about necessarily
05:23 always turning something around. Everybody's in a different and unique
05:26 situation. It's what he's done with his program the way he wanted it. And you can
05:31 just see when you take a team that for years under Coach Riley,
05:36 we're gonna be a score fest type team and now all of a sudden you watch
05:40 Oklahoma and they can score with everybody and they're a top five offense
05:44 yet they're taking the ball away 26 times this year. And when you see a team
05:48 that does that, that's the respect that I have that Coach Venables in two years
05:52 goes from six to ten wins, he adds four wins in second year, and
05:57 then on top of it, it's just the way they play. That's what coaches... I know I think
06:02 there's a saying like, "Those who know, know." When you watch their film, you know.
06:06 And you know that Coach Venables is gonna have a ton of success because of
06:10 the way his program and his culture clearly is taking notice. I think
06:16 probably under the current state of college football, the best
06:21 compliment I can give Coach Fish and again his staff is their ability to
06:26 retain their players in a really tumultuous way. The things that can sustain that have
06:32 longevity in a time that where college football has become more and more
06:36 transactional, they've done a great job about development and connection and
06:41 just doing it the right way. Recruiting guys out of high school,
06:44 signing them and developing them and creating an environment that the players
06:49 feel like they're valued and that they're that they're part of a family
06:54 and something bigger than themselves and then they play that way. Incredibly, as
06:58 efficient of a football team as we've seen all year might be the best opponent
07:03 that we've seen all year. Brent, Real Middle. Brent, I wanted to ask you about
07:12 Jackson Arnold and what kind of progress have you seen from him over this bowl
07:17 prep season? What are some of the key areas of growth? And then for you,
07:22 Coach Fish, I wanted to ask you a little bit more about the story about
07:26 Bob introducing you to your wife. Yeah, Jackson, again, he's been around the game
07:33 since he came out of his mama's womb and been throwing the
07:38 ball around since then, but he's got a great demeanor to him. I think when I was
07:43 a young coach I thought the quarterback had to be like the middle
07:46 linebacker and raw, raw and emotional and as I became a little... and after I coached
07:52 Sam Bradford on the scout team, who later became the number one pick in the draft,
07:56 I learned quickly as I tried to get Sam to do it like I wanted him to do it,
08:00 maybe his way's better. But, you know, very cerebral, consistent, same guy
08:06 every day, puts the work in, just a fantastic teammate, very
08:13 highly recruited, very well thought of, yet there's no entitlement whatsoever
08:17 with Jackson. He's got the instincts that you want him to have, the poise,
08:21 whether it's his ability to climb in the pocket, his patience, trust the
08:25 guys around him, throws guys open, throws with great anticipation, has all
08:30 the skills that you want a guy to have. But you've watched him have,
08:35 in his backup role, he might have two or three bad practices where
08:42 you're like, "Ah boy," you leave a little bit to be desired, not as much of an
08:46 opportunity as what he has now. Now, if he had a bad play, he doesn't
08:51 have a bad series. If he had a bad series, he doesn't have a bad day.
08:55 He's quickly able to regain his composure and not let a
09:02 bad moment really affect him. You've seen that happen throughout the
09:06 course of the season, but especially during these last several
09:09 practices. I think Coach Fish has the final word. Oh, my coach Stoops story. So I was a
09:17 graduate assistant at University of Florida, and back then there wasn't like
09:20 100 graduate assistants and 20 analysts, so there was just two of us. We were
09:26 at the coaches convention and my wife was working for Grant Taft at the AFCA.
09:30 We're working for a company that Rip put on their convention, and Coach Stoops
09:35 just won the National Coach of the Year. Oklahoma just won the National
09:38 Championship. It was in 2001, January of '01, I believe, is when the
09:43 convention was. At the end of the night, we were all getting done
09:47 with the banquet, and Amber and a couple of her friends were at the table next to
09:51 us. He said that might be a good person to say hello to, Jed. 21 years later,
09:57 here we are. So a pretty cool story. Obviously, Coach Stoops means a lot to us,
10:03 as does Coach Puryear, and we were sharing that story with Coach Venables
10:06 and Julie the other night. It's always a good little connector.
10:14 We got back right there first and then second. James Hale from CBS Sports Radio.
10:19 Hey Brent, you know, Arizona has a ton of offensive weapons. Talk about what you've
10:24 got to do to stop them. And Coach Fish, I'm curious, because Oklahoma is a new
10:28 coordinator, new quarterback, does it change anything on how you prepare for
10:32 Oklahoma? And Coach Venables, if you could start, please. Yeah, again, I
10:37 think you've seen what the quarterback Fafita, what he can do, special player.
10:42 His instincts, his command, his decision-making, his ability to improvise.
10:48 He's got great weapons, but he helps them execute at a really, really
10:53 high level. I think completing 74% of his passes, top five in the country.
10:59 He's got a great presence to him. The receivers are fantastic.
11:05 They got great speed, they got length, they got size, playmaking ability. They
11:10 make a lot of competitive plays, two and four in particular. They're tied in 84,
11:15 another excellent player, big body guy. And then the running back, I love, you
11:20 know, the running backs, the stable of them, six gets the majority of the carries.
11:24 Runs with power, speed, just, you know, with an edge and an attitude. And then
11:30 they got an excellent offensive line. And, you know, so offensively, just a really,
11:35 really confident unit that plays with a lot of precision and a lot of physical
11:40 toughness. And then one of the most, two years in a row, one of the most
11:43 explosive offenses in college football. And so, you know, everybody says it
11:49 starts with the run game and those types of things, but they have the ability to
11:52 attack you vertically, certainly to pound you in the run game. And then they do a
11:57 great job on all their screen presentations as well.
12:02 - Go to the second row aisle.
12:05 - Oh, what was part two of that question? Part two is what?
12:09 - Yes, Seth Luttrell. So, you know, I've known, I met Coach Luttrell a couple
12:15 years ago when he was the head coach at North Texas. But, you know, it provides a
12:21 great challenge because when you look at their offense and you look at statistically
12:25 where they were with Coach Levy and with Dylan, you see probably one of the best
12:30 five offenses, not even probably, one of the best five offenses in the country.
12:35 And now you're sitting there and you're trying to make a determination on when
12:38 you're game planning an offense with a different quarterback and a different
12:43 coordinator. And now Coach Luttrell has called plays and, you know, you can go
12:48 back and chase, you know, you say, "Oh, well, at Indiana, what did he do?" You know,
12:52 "When he was at North Texas, what did he do? When he was at Arizona, what did he do?"
12:56 But at some point in time, you just have to play fundamental football and you have
13:00 to just believe in what you see and you have to say there's going to be certain
13:04 principles that his lineage, you know, will bring. And then there's also, you know,
13:11 it's three weeks and how much are you going to change in three weeks. So it's that
13:13 fine line of chasing ghosts, which all of us can do in the coaching profession and
13:18 try to find, you know, "Well, what if they do this and what if they do that and what
13:21 if he changes this?" Or we have to say, "Hey, we need to line up the formations.
13:25 We have to line up quickly. We have to be prepared for, you know, a system of offense.
13:32 And now we have to defend a quarterback that we haven't seen a lot of, but we know
13:36 how talented he is based on high school recruiting and the games he's gotten in
13:39 and a coordinator that has always done a great job wherever he's at.
13:43 And we know it's a great challenge.
13:44 - Yeah, Coach, I was wondering if you could go into a little bit more on Noah.
13:50 The Oklahoma fans haven't seen Arizona as much as most teams,
13:54 most of the really good teams. Could you go into a little bit more detail?
13:58 - Sure. You know, so Noah is a redshirt freshman quarterback, came in here from
14:03 Servite, California with three of his teammates. And number four, McMillan,
14:10 number 88, Keean Burnett, and number five, Jacob Monu, pretty good high school team.
14:15 And all four of them came together, and Noah was the ringleader.
14:20 We offered Noah probably within a month of my arrival on campus, and when he was,
14:25 I guess he was a junior at that point, and he was committed to us and stayed
14:30 committed to us for 10 months. And what I love about Noah is he committed to us when
14:35 Arizona was on a 12-game losing streak, and he stayed committed to us when we
14:39 went 1-11. And if that doesn't speak to his character, I don't know what does.
14:43 But he is an incredible preparer. He loves the game of football.
14:48 He's addicted to the game of football. And he's somebody that not only does
14:52 everything right off the field, he does everything right on the field. And you
14:56 know, I would say this, if you have great habits, if you have great habits off the
15:01 field, you usually have great habits on the field. And his habits have certainly
15:05 allowed him to be a 75% passer and be prepared and be able to walk into the
15:10 game. His first ever start was against Washington, who was on, at that point in
15:14 time, a 16-game win streak. And you know, we lost 31-24, and then a second start
15:19 was at the Coliseum when we lost in triple overtime. And then since then he
15:23 hasn't lost. And he's just led the team, and he's a wonderful kid.
15:28 - Front row.
15:30 - Yeah, hey Brent. Ethan, yesterday was talking a lot about the buy-in from the
15:37 players. You mentioned 70 scholarship guys committed to finishing what they
15:41 started. Could you just speak to the buy-in from the program, where it is now
15:46 versus where it was a year ago? Because it seems like you've gotten quite a few
15:49 guys to say, "Hey, coming back for my senior year." A lot of guys, you know, that
15:53 could go get ready for the NFL, but they're playing in this game. Does that
15:56 speak to the buy-in of the program, where it was maybe a year ago?
15:59 - Yeah, well, I would first be remiss if I didn't, you know, mention the young men
16:04 that aren't playing in the game for different reasons. You know, I love every
16:09 single one of those guys and want nothing but the best for them. You know,
16:13 we have several guys that are going on to the NFL and, you know, getting ready
16:17 for All-Star games. And then certainly, as Coach Fish and I have had several
16:21 conversations about, you know, the free agencies right in the middle of the
16:25 playoffs and the bowl system. And it's a very unique timing
16:30 standpoint. I don't blame any of the players that are looking for a better
16:34 opportunity. You got to do it now, so that you can maybe have a little more
16:39 leverage in a place that's a very short, small window with, you know, again,
16:45 from a timing standpoint, not ideal for anybody. But where they have to do
16:50 what's best for them. And so, I just wanted to say that, first of all. But have
16:55 great appreciation and respect for, you know, the guys in our locker room as
17:00 well. We do have, again, I think every coach would sit up here and say, you know,
17:05 the same thing. But the buy-in, you know, has never been higher. You know,
17:13 I think the results from the season would say that. And, you know, this is a
17:18 group of guys that are highly invested. Highly invested in several of them in
17:24 the last two years. Obviously, you know, we starting in January had 97 players in
17:28 their first or their second year at Oklahoma. But this is a group of
17:33 guys, whether it's the new guys that just showed up, 63 newcomers in January
17:38 last year. Scholarship and preferred walk-ons. Or it was guys in their second
17:44 year or their third year in the program or fourth year in the program, just under
17:48 a different staff. It's been fantastic. And we've got great leadership. And
17:54 we've got guys that care deeply about their opportunity and care deeply about
17:58 their teammates. And certainly, again, what this game, you know, means.
18:03 And again, the whole principle of, again, finishing what you started. That's what,
18:07 you know, you want to have a life that you, you know, that embodies that.
18:12 Question on the aisle back there. This question is for Jed. College football,
18:18 bowl games are allowing teams to use wireless communication in the helmets. Is
18:22 that something that you guys are working on? And what do you think about adding
18:26 that to the sport? And Brent, can you talk about that as well? Yeah, I'm all for
18:30 that. I came from the NFL, so that's kind of how we've been communicating. So it's
18:35 nice to get back to that. I think we'll be kicking that off in the first game of
18:40 next year, from what I understand. And, you know, we're not going to be using it
18:44 in this game, but we will very much be using it as long as, as far as I'm aware,
18:50 starting the first game of next year. And that'll give everybody, spring football,
18:54 that'll give everybody training camp to work any kinks out. I still think they
18:59 need to legislate it. You know, I'm not on the legislation committee, but I would
19:04 say this, you shouldn't be in someone's ear for 30 seconds. You shouldn't be in
19:08 someone's ear when they're standing over the ball. And I think that would be a
19:12 distraction more than a help. The NFL has got a lot of things figured out. This is
19:17 another thing I think they have figured out. Cut the thing off at 15 seconds, at
19:21 25 seconds, give a coach 15 seconds to talk, and then move on. And I think if we
19:26 could do that and get this legislated properly, you know, put it in one person's
19:31 helmet, not 11, we have a great chance of being successful here. If we do it the
19:35 other way, I think it'll cause more, more harm than good.
19:40 Thank you. Let's do final two questions right here.
19:44 Brent, I was rereading a story you once told about being at this game in '98 with
19:52 K-State and having to make a really tough night before visit with Coach
19:57 Snyder about what you were gonna do and your future. And for a guy who, I know
20:02 how much he meant to you and means to you still, and a guy who reflects on, you
20:05 know, flashpoints of his career, I'm wondering if you still think about that
20:08 night and that particular moment and how it sort of pivoted one way or the
20:12 other, what's happened since for you? Yeah, absolutely. I think about, you know,
20:16 those moments. Those are life-changing decisions that, you know, propel you to
20:22 the what's next and give you opportunity. And certainly that was as agonizing of
20:27 a decision. I've only left a couple of programs. Every one of them was really
20:32 difficult, but well thought out. And you trust your instincts. You pray, you
20:39 look for, you know, a little bit of guidance, you know, and keep the faith
20:44 that, you know, your experience and wisdom and your faith will get you the right
20:49 next spot. But Coach Snyder, again, I wouldn't be sitting here in front
20:55 of y'all had it not been for his belief in me and the opportunities that he gave
21:00 me as well. And again, I got recruited to Kansas State by Coach Bob Stoops as well.
21:05 And so when that moment came in 1998 to either stay at Kansas State or move
21:13 forward, I just I knew I needed to get out of the nest to learn how to fly. And
21:16 I needed to, you know, have, you know, another, you know, lineage, if you will, to
21:23 the coaching tree, another place to go and again learn and grow. At that time I
21:30 really I didn't feel like I was ready to be, you know, you know, all the
21:36 responsibilities I was offered at Kansas State. I just had great self-awareness,
21:39 you know, and I wanted to continue to develop and learn as a coach. You promote
21:45 that to your players all the time. It's not an overly popular thing sometimes,
21:49 but for me as a young person I did have that wisdom. But the other
21:55 thing I remember was not, you know, not winning the game. We lost 37-34 to
22:00 Drew Brees. He throws a fade route and third down to win the game. But I
22:05 have, you know, the life changing. My life has been enriched through those
22:10 relationships and certainly that was a moment that was incredibly difficult, but
22:14 one that, you know, I've been blessed ever since. But I do think about
22:20 those things, you know, quite often. So a lot of great people have helped me get
22:26 to this place and Coach Schneider, Coach Stoops are two of those people.
22:29 Final question.
22:31 This question is for Jed. How important is it for the trajectory of the program, the
22:38 fact that you're facing a team with a background and a history of Oklahoma?
22:41 Well, I mean the program is just getting built. We're just getting started.
22:47 This will be the fourth time, if we can get to 10 wins, that the program
22:51 since 1930 has gotten to 10 wins. This is the 11th time that it's gotten to 9 wins.
22:56 So just to be in this game and then you get to get matched up in the Valero
23:00 Alamo Bowl, which is one of the best bowl games in the country in the
23:04 bowl season, and then you get to play against a team that is a 10-2
23:09 football team that is elite at everything they've done in football over
23:14 the course of the years. I told our team seven national championships, seven
23:17 Heisman Trophy winners, 19 10-win seasons in the last 21 years I think it is. So,
23:22 you know, when you look at who they are and what they are, it's a huge part of
23:26 the game. But, you know, just like I told our staff this morning, the next 24-48
23:31 hours, whatever it is until kickoff, now we got to just treat this like now
23:35 we're ready to play a game. It's not about a bowl game. It's not about who
23:38 we're playing. It's how we always prepare these final 48 hours and it's got to be
23:42 us being at our very best. Thank you, coaches, for bringing your team. If you could
23:47 close by standing so they get a picture you two together.
23:50 [no audio]