Sooners Name New Offensive Coordinator

Oklahoma's football team announced on Monday the hiring of Ben Arbuckle as the new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Arbuckle is 29 years old and has been the offensive coordinator at Washington State the last two seasons.

He will play the offensive plays for the Sooners.

Arbuckle was at Western Kentucky for two seasons before going to Washington State.

He's from Canadian, Texas, and played college football at West Texas A&M.

"Ben is an extremely passionate and innovative coach who does a great job of finding ways to maximize his personnel," said head coach Brent Venables. "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.

"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. 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.

“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 Coach (Joe Jon) Finley, Coach (Bill) Bedenbaugh, Coach (DeMarco) Murray and Coach (Emmett) Jones.”

"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."

"I've always played to the strength of my personnel. The personnel drives the scheme," he explained. "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."