Oklahoma's Board of Regents agenda for its July meeting includes an item officially naming Curtis Lofton as the general manager for the Sooners.
Tom Green
Oklahoma's investment in its support staff under Brent Venables is set to take another important step forward this week at the university's Board of Regents meeting.
Curtis Lofton, currently the director of the Sooners' S.O.U.L. Mission, is set to officially add the title of general manager for OU's football team, according to the agenda released for the Board of Regents meeting, which is set for Friday in Ardmore. Lofton has been fulfilling duties related to the general manager position for months, but the promotion will become official once approved by the Board of Regents.
With the title, Lofton will also receive a significant raise. According to the agenda, Lofton's annual salary will increase to $300,000 for 12 months, retroactive to April 20. Lofton previously earned $101,500 annually at Oklahoma.
"Curtis has been doing what he has been doing in the last couple of years," Venables said in March, prior to the start of spring practices. "He's been fantastic,S.O.U.L.Mission as a whole is fantastic, and remember,S.O.U.L. Missionisn't just one job. It's, again, holistic development. And they're leaders, they're mentors, they're recruiters, they're therapists, they're competitors. And Curtis brings a lot to the table. The same things thathe did as a player, now he's using those same transferrable skills as a leader in our program. So, he's been fantastic."
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Lofton spent the last two years on Venables' staff overseeing the S.O.U.L. Mission initiative within the football program. A native of Kingfisher, Lofton played at Oklahoma for three seasons under then-coach Bob Stoops from 2005-07, earning consensus All-America honors as a junior. That season, Lofton totaled 157 tackles, with 10.5 for a loss, and had three interception and a fumble recovery, resulting in a pair of defensive touchdowns. Along with his All-America honors, Lofton was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2007 before forgoing his senior season and declaring for the NFL Draft.
Lofton was selected in the second round, going 37th overall to the Atlanta Falcons in the 2008 NFL Draft. Following an eight-year career in the league, Lofton officially retired in 2017.
Now he's set to take over officially as the Sooners' general manager in what is becoming an increasingly important and prominent role across the college football landscape. Lofton's social media account has reflected the general manager title for some time now.
When asked in March about the possibility of hiring a full-time general manager to help with roster management and other aspects of the program, Venables had this to say:
"We'd be naive if we didn't look at the change that's going on in college football, both currently and thelandscape," Venables said. "The toothpaste isdefinitely out of the tube,and it'snot going — you're notputting it back in. So, we are always looking at, again, all of our processes, ourprograms, oursupport systems on how we can continue to improve and be efficient, be really good at what we're doing, and finding (advantages). I alwayslookat trying to hire people who are smarter than me and tosurround myself with really good, intelligent people that have either theexperience where you want to go, or they have acumen to learn and grow and get better and lead.
"So, we're always looking at ways to get better. There's some restructuring and reorganization that we're looking at doing over the next (several months), and we've been working on this for 16,18 months. Where again, a lot of it's wherewe feel like college football is going and making sure that we were in a position of strength, we're not reacting and when it does happen. This is going to continue to be just kind of a process, and it's,you wish it wasa little more congruent, but, you know, it's kind of a piecemeal is what's going on in college football. So, we've been working hard and diligently trying to anticipate the things that we do often do programmatically to strengthen us. So, that'll besomewhere here in the near future."
Also on the agenda for OU's Board of Regents meeting Friday is a raise for football chief of staff Woody Glass. According to the agenda, Glass is up for a salary increase from $310,000 annually to $350,000 annually, retroactive to April 20. Glass joined Venables' staff in 2022 as special assistant to the head coach before being promoted to chief of staff last year.
