What sold OU leadership on hiring new athletic director Roger Denny? 'This guy’s a weapon'
NORMAN — Randall Stephenson thought he knew what Oklahoma’s next athletic director would look like.
Charged with replacing longtime AD Joe Castiglione , the former AT&T CEO built what he called a “cut list” — five or six candidates who fit the future-facing profile OU believed it needed. Media executives. Professional sports operators. Business leaders comfortable navigating billion-dollar industries.
What OU did not plan to do was hire a sitting deputy athletic director — unless, as university president Joseph Harroz put it, the resume belonged to a true outlier.
Then a name landed in Stephenson’s inbox.
Jake Rosenberg, a partner with The Athlete Group retained to assist the search, sent over the bio of Roger Denny , Illinois ’ deputy athletic director and chief operating officer.
“Come on,” Stephenson recalled. “Deputy AD? That’s not exactly what we were looking for here, is it Jake?”
Rosenberg urged him to keep reading.
More: What OU football coach Brent Venables, Bob Stoops think of new AD Roger Denny
The deeper Stephenson went, the more the profile changed. Denny didn’t follow the traditional Power Four athletic director path, but his background checked nearly every box OU believed mattered most in college athletics’ current moment.
Denny spent the last four years at Illinois overseeing the strategic direction of the department’s business operations while serving as sport administrator for football. Before that, he worked at law firms in St. Louis for nearly 16 years, most recently practicing at Spencer Fane LLP, representing power-conference institutions in coaching searches and retention negotiations, advising Big Ten schools on employment litigation and counseling programs through conference realignment.
That nontraditional path immediately caught the attention of Harroz, himself a former law dean and longtime general counsel.
“Five minutes in, I was thinking, ‘Here we are talking to a deputy AD. This seems anathema to the direction we were going,’” Harroz said.
“The next 2 hours and 55 minutes, I was just captured.”
Harroz and Stephenson brought Denny to Dallas for an in-person meeting. By the end, both were taking notes — and rethinking what an "out-of-the-box" hire could look like.
“He has four and a half years of deeper operational experience," Harroz said. "He was directly assigned to be in charge of football. You've seen what they've done at Illinois, but he has his broader context. As I look at that legal background, as I look at that training, he speaks with knowledge of how to deploy it and employ it. Given my legal background, I know a decent amount. But when Roger’s in the room, I am learning.”
Denny’s time inside college athletics coincided with its most volatile era.
“I showed up at Illinois about a week after NIL became legal,” Denny said. “We talk about all this change in sports. To me, it’s the only way I’ve ever known it. We’ve built a heck of a program (at Illinois), one I’m incredibly proud of.”
That perspective mattered. OU wasn’t simply seeking a steward of tradition, it wanted an athletic director comfortable operating amid NIL, conference realignment and escalating contracts.
When Rosenberg first called to ask whether Denny would be interested, the response was immediate.
“It’s Oklahoma,” Denny said. “What are we even talking about?"
As conversations progressed, Denny saw what OU leaders believed set the university apart.
More: Roger Denny 'ideal candidate' to follow Joe Castiglione as OU athletic director | Carlson
“And then you really start to dig in, and you get to know the people,” Denny said. “The buzzword around our industry is alignment, right? Everyone talks about alignment, top to bottom, this and that. What I would tell you about Oklahoma is it's not just alignment. It is absolute commitment to excellence and winning, and not just winning, but winning championships.”
Beyond legal and operational expertise, Denny also brought experience hiring winners. As outside counsel, he played key roles in the searches that landed Bret Bielema and Brad Underwood at Illinois. Bielema delivered the program’s most Big Ten wins through three seasons since 1994, while Underwood has guided the Illini to three conference championships and an Elite Eight appearance.
That track record might be top of mind as OU men’s basketball coach Porter Moser’s seat continues to warm.
With the hire, Stephenson will shift from chair of football to chair of athletics and serve as special adviser to Denny and Harroz. Denny will oversee football directly.
Somewhere along the way, the candidate Stephenson initially questioned became unavoidable.
Denny’s name didn’t just make the cut list — it reshaped it.
As Harroz sat in his office Monday, days before Denny’s formal introduction Wednesday, the anticipation was evident.
“I can’t wait to get the guy here,” Harroz said. “When you look at this environment and all that college athletics means and what it means to Oklahoma, this guy’s a weapon.
“Sooner Nation is going to fall in love with this guy.”
Colton Sulley covers the Oklahoma Sooners for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Colton? He can be reached at csulley@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @colton_sulley. Support Colton's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How Roger Denny won over OU leadership to land athletic director job
