OU hires Washington State’s Arbuckle as OC

Oklahoma has announced it hired Washington State offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle on Monday to serve in the same capacity for the Sooners.

Arbuckle, just 29, has been the play-caller at Washington State the past two years. The 8-4 Cougars rank 12th nationally with 36.8 points per game this season.

Arbuckle steps in for an Oklahoma offense that struggled to move the ball and couldn’t help an exceptional defense in the school’s first season as a member of the Southeastern Conference. The Sooners rank 15th out of 16 SEC teams in scoring offense and yards per game. The Sooners fired offensive coordinator Seth Littrell in October after a humbling loss to South Carolina. Joe Jon Finley stepped in, and the Sooners improved some as they focused on a more run-based attack. The Sooners finished 6-6 in the regular season.

Arbuckle knows how to get something out of a quarterback — he coached Cam Ward in 2023, and they teamed up to help the Cougars rank fourth nationally in passing offense. Ward is now a Heisman contender at Miami.

Before his stint at Washington State, Arbuckle was co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Western Kentucky in 2022. He was the primary play-caller his first year as a full-time coach, and he helped the Hilltoppers finish second nationally in yards passing per game and seventh in total offense.

“Ben is an extremely passionate and innovative coach who does a great job of finding ways to maximize his personnel,” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said in a statement. “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.”

Arbuckle is excited about his opportunity.

“We’re going to run an attacking-style offense,” he said. “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 … I’m excited to get to Norman and get to work.”

Oklahoma had great success with a previous young offensive coordinator. Bob Stoops hired 31-year-old Lincoln Riley in 2015 to revive the Sooners offense. After two dynamic seasons, Riley became the head coach. On his watch, Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray won Heisman Trophies and were No. 1 overall picks in the NFL draft.