Oklahoma Sooners may have found their next Athletic Director after having Joe Castiglione since 1998
The Sooners have been searching for a new Athletic Director.
The highly anticipated decision has arrived: The Oklahoma Sooners are set to replace former Athletic Director Joe Castiglione.
According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, the Sooners are targeting Illinois deputy athletic director/COO Roger Denny to be OU’s next athletic director. He’s interviewed on campus twice, and a deal is expected to be completed in the upcoming days.
How the Sooners came up with Roger Denny for the Athletic Director position
Last football offseason, the Sooners formed a 12-person committee to search for the next Athletic Director while Castiglione agreed to stay on through the 2025 season.
Castiglione is a legendary figure in school history, and because of this, the Sooners took this search seriously, exploring every avenue to find a new leader to guide Oklahoma’s athletics in a positive direction. Former quarterback Sam Bradford from the 2008 Sooners team was listed as a “designee from outside the university,” helping find Denny as the next AD.
Replacing Castiglione, who elevated OU across sports, will be challenging. He chose to step down as the college landscape evolved and to focus on family.
“The old world has changed, and I don’t like it either,” said on The REF last offseason when schools started cancelling spring games due to the transfer portal. “We have grown the attendance of spring games. We understand it, but the world has changed dramatically. We don’t have to like it, but it’s something different. It’s hard to explain to everyone. But this is the forerunner for what’s going to happen in spring football. Maybe people have a spring game this year. But in my mind, I see spring practices changing dramatically. I love the spring game. I hate to see it going away. I’m with the fans. It’s just something that we’re having to do to adjust and best position our program.”
Denny, a former lawyer, transitioned to collegiate athletics in 2021 at Illinois, achieving success there before being targeted as OU’s likely new AD.
Oklahoma Sooners News
Sooners add a player to new revamped position group in the best way possible for 2026
The Sooners needed Carreon back.
