On Monday, the University of Oklahoma hired Ben Arbuckle to be the football team’s next offensive coordinator. ESPN college football senior writer Pete Thamel reported the news first on X, formerly known as Twitter, which was confirmed by the Globe-News.
OU officially announced the hire on Monday evening.
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Arbuckle heads to Norman after holding the same position at Washington State, but the Sooners‘ newest staff member is originally from the Texas Panhandle. Arbuckle played high school football at Canadian and was the starting quarterback at West Texas A&M for two seasons.
OU fired the team’s previous offensive coordinator, Seth Littrell, in the middle of its 2024 campaign. Since relieving the former North Texas head coach from his duties, Arbuckle has been heavily linked to the opening.
After reports Arbuckle was also in line to be the next offensive coordinator at Utah, Oklahoma officially announced the former Wildcat’s hire.
Here are three things to know about Ben Arbuckle as he takes over in Norman.
Arbuckle’s route to coaching began when he was a sophomore in high school.
The former Canadian High School standout took over as the team’s starting quarterback during his second year with the Wildcats, going on to have a solid career in Hemphill County. Quarterbacking one of the most consistent programs in the Texas Panhandle, Arbuckle earned all-state honors as a junior and senior.
In his final year as the Wildcats’ starting quarterback, Arbuckle led Canadian to a 12-2 overall record and a state quarterfinals appearance. During his time at Canadian High, Arbuckle played alongside fellow Wildcats quarterback Tanner Schafer, who went on to play for the Sooners from 2016-21 before taking a position on OU’s support staff.
Schafer is now an offensive analyst at Mississippi State under former Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby.
Following his high school career, Arbuckle took a hiatus from football, but eventually continued playing at West Texas A&M University.
At WT, Arbuckle was under the tutelage of head coach Hunter Hughes and offensive coordinator Ryan McDonough. McDonough has since died, and Hughes is now the defensive backs coach at the University of Idaho.
Arbuckle spent two years as the Buffs’ starting quarterback, notching a career performance against former Lone Star Conference foe Oklahoma Panhandle State on Oct. 15, 2016. In a 42-14 win against OPSU, Arbuckle threw for 292 yards and tossed six touchdowns.
The next week, Arbuckle helped lead WTAMU to a win over then-No. 4 Midwestern State with two touchdown passes and zero interceptions. Arbuckle finished his career at West Texas A&M during the 2017 season and graduated in 2018 with a degree in finance.
After graduating from WTAMU, Arbuckle was offered an opportunity to join Houston Christian’s coaching staff in a quality control position by then-offensive coordinator Zach Kittley.
This relationship would prove to change the trajectory of Arbuckle’s career just a few years later.
Arbuckle spent two seasons in Houston before returning to west Texas as a member of Seminole High School’s staff. The young coach spent 2020 as the Indians’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach before reuniting with Kittley at Western Kentucky.
Arbuckle was originally in another quality control position before Texas Tech hired Kittley to be the team’s offensive coordinator and the Hilltoppers elevated the Texas Panhandle product to co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
After helping mentor players like Bailey Zappe at WKU, Washington State hired Arbuckle to be the Cougars’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. In two years, the well-traveled play caller has helped WSU develop one of the nation’s top offenses.
Washington State finished the season ranked No. 22 in the FBS in total offense, with Arbuckle’s mentor, Kittley, leading Texas Tech to a 10th-place finish in the same statistical category. After a strong campaign for the Cougars’ offense, Arbuckle was named a nominee for the Broyles Award, given annually to college football’s top assistant coach.
At 29, Arbuckle is still very early in his career but has already found success at four different stops. Now, the up-and-coming offensive coordinator has landed an offensive coordinator job at an SEC program just a few hours away from his hometown.
“Right off the bat, my first conversation with Coach Venables got me really excited,” Arbuckle said in a press release. “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.”
