Brent Venables and the Oklahoma Sooners moved from a 6-7 record in 2024 to 10-3 in 2025. Although this mirrors the records of his first two seasons with the Sooners, there was a major change in the program that propelled the good performance. It was new front GM Jim Nagy, who played a big role in the improvement the team saw last season, and to reward his brilliance, the program has rewarded him with a new contract.

The General Manager of the Oklahoma University football team has received a new four-year, $4.6 million contract extension, approved by the Oklahoma University Board of Regents. The contract will keep him in Norman until 2030. With this, he becomes one of the highest-paid general managers in college football.

“It was critical,” OU athletics director Roger Denny told SoonerScoop. “You see what they’re doing, the results speak for themselves. But the thing that folks don’t necessarily see is the way he and his staff have come in and really integrated themselves so seamlessly with our coaching staff, and when you combine the work they’re doing on the evaluation and negotiation and the transactional side of it along with the work that our coaches do recruiting, it’s really a tremendous advantage for us. And we want to preserve that advantage as long as we can.”

The new deal comes just over one year after his appointment in February 2025, where he signed a three-year contract of $2.55 million. With his former deal, his annual value was at $850,000. However, the new deal will see Nagy receive $1.15 million this year, while he gets a $100,000 increase each year.

Of course, such an increase is a reward for a job well done. But beyond that, it is both a revelation of how much he is valued by the program and also a reminder for other programs and franchises to stay off him. Denny admitted that Nagy has never lacked a reputation in the world of football. For a person with a known name and known character of “humility and focus,” it was only wise that the program was ahead of the rest.

While the general manager role is quite new in college football — as it was adopted from the NFL — Nagy was appointed to lead OU’s roster management, talent acquisition, retention, and compensation. He is also in charge of managing the dynamics of NIL deals, the transfer portal, player eligibility, scholarship offers, and revenue-sharing.

Since his arrival, he and his front office staff have helped the program on the recruiting front, with some of the best recruiting and transfer portals in the country. In his very first recruiting class, the 2026 recruiting class, the program ranked 15th nationally, which was an upgrade from the 2025 class, which ranked 16th nationally and ninth in the SEC, per On3. 

Proving his ever-improving mindset, the 2027 class is currently ranked Top 5 in the nation and second in the SEC, with several months to rank higher before the National Signing Day in December.

Jim Nagy has had a solid career path

Jim Nagy, as Denny noted, has built a great reputation for himself in college football and the NFL, having held notable roles in the front offices of several franchises. His extensive resume, coupled with his impressive deliveries, is why he is getting a raise just a year into his new role.

Nagy was the executive director of the Senior Bowl for seven years, between 2018 and 2025.  The Senior Bowl is the nation’s most prestigious college all-star game that showcases draft-eligible players. With him, the Senior Bowl consistently produced more than 100 selections in the NFL draft yearly.

Before his role at the Senior Bowl, he was an NFL scout for 18 years, with four Super Bowl rings from six Super Bowl appearances by his teams. After graduating from Michigan, he worked as a scout with the Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots, and the Washington Redskins, now called the Commanders.