Oklahoma's reported hiring of Washington State's Ben Arbuckle as offensive coordinator a brilliant move
The Oklahoma Sooners have wrapped up their offensive coordinator search, hiring Washington State offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, according to a report from Ralph D. Russo of The Athletic.
The Cougars' 29-year-old coordinator has been one of the hottest names in coaching circles in recent months, and the move should have Sooners fans excited about the team's future.
It's been a rough few seasons offensively for Oklahoma under head coach Brent Venables; outside of the 2023 season under Jeff Lebby, the Sooners' offense has been frustratingly inconsistent, and hit rock bottom this season. A combination of injured wide receivers and struggling quarterbacks in Jackson Arnold and Michael Hawkins, Jr. combined to get Seth Littrell fired amid a 6-6 season in Norman that saw them go 2-6 in the SEC.
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Where Littrell struggled, Arbuckle should shine. The 29-year-old has had nothing but success at both Western Kentucky and Washington State. While he's a product of the Mike Leach and Dana Holgorsen coaching tree, and does run an air raid offense, it's not the pure, uncut air raid we've seen previously in the Palouse.
Arbuckle's philosophy uses tempo and space to be aggressive in specific spots by design. He uses short pass plays and runs to wear a defense down before hitting them with a deep shot, punishing their fatigue with a quick strike over the top.
At Washington State, Arbuckle has incorporated much more run game than you'd expect from an air raid disciple; both Cam Ward and current quarterback John Mateer were incredibly dangerous threats running the ball, and he managed to channel both quarterbacks' chaotic tendencies into wreaking havoc on opposing defenses.
He's also shown a knack for scheming his receivers open, giving quarterbacks specific reads to hunt for, and has done great things with what could generously be described as middling receiver talent at both Wazzu and Western Kentucky.
In other words, he's the exact opposite of what Oklahoma's offense was last season, in all the right ways.
His ability to incorporate designed runs and rollouts into a quarterback's game should help both Arnold and Hawkins to make a leap towards competence next season, and with a healthy wide receiver room you can expect the Sooners to put up points in bunches.
This was exactly the kind of hire Venables needed to show everyone that he's committed to improving in a year when his seat couldn't get any hotter. Expect big things from Oklahoma's offense next year.
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