Brent Venables Addresses Possible Future of Bedlam Series

ARLINGTON, Tx – One of the bigger storylines out of Big 12 Media Days the past few days has centered around the future of the Bedlam series.

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy was asked about the future of the series in the breakout session Wednesday afternoon.

“Bedlam is history,” Gundy said. “Bedlam is not gonna be Bedlam when they leave the conference.”

“This is a big business now, and the traditions that we all embraced, and not just football but other traditions that have to do with college athletics, they’re gone now,” Gundy continued. “The people in charge that are paying the bills, that are trying to get out of debt, are more interested in long-term financial security than they are in traditions.”

That’s been pretty much the sentiment around Stillwater surrounding Bedlam since the news of OU and Texas to the SEC was announced in 2021.

OU head coach Brent Venables spoke to the media in a breakout session following his podium interview on day two of Media Days and sort of sidestepped the answer when asked about the future.

“I’m not going to talk about the move,” said Venables. “I am focused on winning the state. And it’s an incredibly important game. There’s a long history and tradition. Over 100 years of playing Bedlam and regardless of however the scores have been or the success of one place or another, it’s important. And from a foundational standpoint, you’ve got to have some hate in your heart for your rival. I got great respect for Mike and the success of the program; their coaches, their players, they’ve obviously done a lot of things really well. But for us, when the time comes, that’s a tremendous focus. But year round in this state it’s important to so many people. It brings a lot of joy and a lot of heartache to a lot of people. And so it’ll be a great focus for us and an exciting one. The last week of the season we’ll meet up again. That’s my thoughts on all of that.”

The future of the series is certainly in doubt, but there’s no question it’s an important one, both in terms of tradition and in terms of money and ad revenue. As Robert Allen speculated on Wednesday, it appeared Mike Gundy was cryptically talking about how successful the Bedlam series is, just in case the Pokes have a shot at joining the SEC in the coming years.