What Brent Venables had to say about new Oklahoma offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle.
The Oklahoma Sooners have officially hired their new offensive coordinator for the 2025 season.
Former Washington State and Western Kentucky offensive coordinator [autotag]Ben Arbuckle[/autotag] will take over as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach with the Sooners and will serve as the playcaller.
Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables shared his thoughts on Arbuckle via a press release on Monday night after reports surfaced earlier in the day of the Sooners OC pick.
“Ben is an extremely passionate and innovative coach who does a great job of finding ways to maximize his personnel,” said head coach [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag]. “He has developed dynamic quarterbacks in his young coaching career and sees the QB game through a unique perspective and lens, as he played the position himself. He’s got an infectious energy and mindset, and is a fantastic teacher of the game with an impeccable work ethic. He relates well to young people, and his beliefs, values and concern for student-athletes on their journey align with our values and philosophy here at OU.”
Arbuckle attended Canadian High School, playing quarterback in the Texas panhandle. He played college football at Division II West Texas A&M University, graduating in 2018.
He was a quality control coach at Houston Baptist from 2018 to 2019 under offensive coordinator Zach Kittley, who recently served as Texas Tech’s offensive coordinator and is reportedly going to be the next head coach at Florida Atlantic. Arbuckle was then hired to be the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Seminole High School in Texas for the 2020 season.
Arbuckle rejoined Kittley at Western Kentucky in 2021 as an offensive quality control coach, helping to mentor Bailey Zappe during a record-breaking season for the Hilltoppers. When Kittley, then Western Kentucky’s offensive coordinator, left for the same job at Texas Tech, Arbuckle was named co-OC/QBs coach, calling plays for the first time at the college level in 2022.
The 29-year-old has spent the last two seasons as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Washington State, after taking the job under head coach Jake Dickert following an impressive 2022 at WKU.
He worked with Cam Ward in 2023 and was directly involved in his development into one of college football’s premier passers. This season, after Ward transferred to Miami, he’s tutored John Mateer, the FBS touchdown leader in 2024.
“Thanks to his unique blend of experience, Ben does an incredible job utilizing multiple personnel groups and putting tremendous stress — both vertical and systematic — on defenses,” Venables said. “He’s overseen quarterback-friendly, big-play offenses and thrives at putting players in position to be successful. That track record will attract some of the most dynamic and explosive players in the country.”
“Right off the bat, my first conversation with Coach Venables got me really excited,” said Arbuckle. “Hearing his vision for the program and the OU offense, I was in total alignment and ready to roll. To have this opportunity to join the University of Oklahoma football program, with its longstanding tradition of excellence, was so enticing to me and I wanted to be a part of it more than anything. It’s an honor and a privilege to be in this situation and I’m ready to hit the ground running and get this thing going. We’re going to run an attacking-style offense. I want to take the fight to the defense. I want to put our guys in position to be successful at all times, and ultimately go out there and be explosive and put a product on the field that Sooner Nation is proud of. I’m excited to get to Norman and get to work.”
In Arbuckle’s two seasons at Washington State, the Cougars ranked 10th nationally in passing yards per game (302.7) and in passing touchdowns (57), 12th in touchdown/interception ratio (3.56), 13th in passing efficiency rating (154.5), 20th in scoring offense (34.2 ppg) and 22nd in touchdowns from scrimmage (101).
How will Arbuckle’s offense look at Oklahoma?
“I’ve always played to the strength of my personnel. The personnel drives the scheme,” Arbuckle said. “There have been years where the best thing for the team to be successful was throwing the ball a lot, and there have been years where the best thing for the team was to establish the line of scrimmage and get rolling. That’s how I’ll always approach it. What gets us in the best position to be successful is what we’re going to do. My mentors come from a bunch of different trees, whether that’s the ‘Air Raid’ tree, the ‘West Coast’ tree, the ‘Pro Style’ tree. I have mentors from all different backgrounds, and they’ve all helped mold me into what you see on the field now. I’ve been fortunate to have great men in this profession trust me and give me the opportunity to lead their offenses. That is a responsibility I have never taken lightly and am thankful for the belief from all of those men.”
Arbuckle replaces Seth Littrell, who was fired in October after just seven games in 2024. More directly, he replaces Joe Jon Finley and Kevin Johns, OU’s interim co-offensive coordinators after Littrell was relieved of his duties.
Although, it sounds as though at least Finley will be back on the coaching staff, according to the head coach. It’s not known yet whether or not Johns will return, or what the plan is for the bowl game later this month.
“I’m incredibly excited to see our offense reach new heights under Ben’s guidance and leadership, working alongside the rest of our offensive staff of Joe Jon Finley, Bill Bedenbaugh, DeMarco Murray and Emmett Jones,” Venables said.
Arbuckle has plenty of work to do with the offense in Norman, including but not limited to retaining the [autotag]2025 recruiting class[/autotag], building the 2026 and 2027 recruiting classes, retaining possible transfer portal or NFL draft departures, and rebuilding the offensive line and tight end rooms.
However, his most notable job is figuring out who his starting quarterback will be in 2025. It may be the burning question after a 6-6 campaign in 2024.
