Oklahoma is hiring Washington State’s Ben Arbuckle as its new offensive coordinator, according to CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz. The 29-year previous Arbuckle is ready to exchange Seth Littrell, who was fired seven video games into the 2024 season, and would be the third full-time offensive coordinator in what will probably be 4 seasons below coach Brent Venables.
Arbuckle, a former tight finish at West Texas A&M, has had a speedy ascent by means of the teaching ranks. He began as a high quality management coach at Houston Baptist in 2018 and in 2021 accepted an offensive assistant place at Western Kentucky. He was elevated to offensive coordinator for the Mountaineers in 2022 and spent one season in that place earlier than filling Washington State’s offensive coordinator emptiness in 2023.
In his few brief years as an offensive coordinator, Arbuckle has guided a few of college football’s most prolific passing offenses. In 2022, Western Kentucky quarterback Austin Reed led the nation with 4,744 yards passing — greater than Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams — and tied for third with 40 touchdowns by means of the air.
At Washington State in 2023, Arbuckle teamed with Incarnate Ward switch quarterback Cam Ward, who had 3,735 yards and 25 touchdowns passing. The Cougars ranked fourth within the FBS with 336.8 yards passing per recreation.
Whereas Wazzu did not submit the identical gaudy passing numbers in 2024, the Cougars nonetheless completed the common season ranked twelfth nationally in scoring 36.8 factors per recreation. Quarterback John Mateer additionally paced the FBS in complete touchdowns with 44, 15 of which got here on the bottom, and he nonetheless had 4 video games with a minimum of 300 yards passing.
Arbuckle ought to a minimum of carry a spark to an Oklahoma staff that completed fifteenth within the SEC in complete offense (322.5 yards per recreation), sixteenth in passing (167.6 ypg) and fifteenth in scoring (24.3 factors per recreation). The Sooners scored above 20 factors in simply three of their eight convention video games.
