There was a point when Bill Bedenbaugh realized college football’s changing landscape was changing him, too.
The transfer portal gave players freedom they had never possessed before. For coaches, that meant every difficult conversation, every hard practice and every moment of blunt criticism suddenly came with another thought in the back of their minds:
What if the player simply leaves?
Bedenbaugh admitted that reality affected the way he coached.
“I changed my coaching style a little bit, knowing that, ‘Okay, if this guy gets yelled at, he gets mad, he can up and leave.’ Well, that doesn’t help anybody.”
Eventually, Oklahoma’s longtime offensive line coach decided he could not continue operating that way.
“Last year, I just said, whatever—I’m going to be me,” Bedenbaugh said. “Whatever happens, happens. I can’t be something that I’m not.”
That might be one of the more revealing comments Bedenbaugh has made in years.
This isn’t Bedenbaugh saying he refuses to evolve. In fact, he made the opposite point. He knows he is not the same coach he was 15 years ago.
The difference is that evolving and becoming somebody else are two completely different things.
For Bedenbaugh, the foundation remains relationships.
“But I’ve always tried to be relationship-driven, no matter what,” he said. “Because if the guys understand that how you’re coaching them and what you’re doing is for their benefit—and it is—it’s not for my benefit. I’m where I want to be. It’s to help you get where you want to get to.”
That approach now meets an Oklahoma offensive line Bedenbaugh believes is beginning to look considerably different than it did even a few months ago.
“These guys since January have really transformed,” Bedenbaugh said.
That word — transformed — is important.
Oklahoma’s offensive line was extremely young in 2025. Now Michael Fasusi and Ryan Fodje have a full season of SEC football behind them. Eddy Pierre-Louis has developed into one of the unit’s leaders. Jake Maikkula brought another year of experience into the room before his injury, while veterans such as E’Marion Harris added even more college snaps.
Bedenbaugh pointed directly toward that experience when discussing why the group should be better.
“You can’t replace experience.”
Simple. Obvious. But also true.
You can simulate pressure in practice. You can throw every defensive front imaginable at an offensive lineman. You can make practices as physical as possible.
It still is not Saturday in the SEC.
That is why the growth of Fasusi, Fodje and others matters so much. They are no longer trying to understand what SEC football feels like for the first time.
Bedenbaugh also singled out Heath Ozaeta, who was forced onto the field earlier in his career than the staff probably wanted.
“He’s a confident player right now,” Bedenbaugh said. “He’s always been a smart player.”
Bedenbaugh added that Ozaeta’s body is “in the best spot that it has ever been.”
All of this leads to the same larger point.
Oklahoma does not need a different Bill Bedenbaugh.
It needs the version that developed NFL offensive linemen, demanded accountability and built units that could run the football when everyone in the stadium knew what was coming.
The portal forced Bedenbaugh to consider whether that style still fit college football.
His answer now seems pretty clear.
He is going to be himself — no matter the cost. It’s what got him to where he is today and won him and his offensive line a Joe Moore Award in 2018. First-round picks galore and more.
And if the offensive line truly has transformed the way he believes it has, Oklahoma may be much better for Bedenbaugh being, well, Bedenbaugh.
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