NORMAN — Brent Venables has remained adamant that the Sooners are retaining their entire offensive staff for next season.
However, that wasn't a mandate when Venables searched for the next offensive coordinator.
Venables knew the Sooners needed to shake things up after the program finished the regular season with one of the worst offensive campaigns in recent memory. The Sooners finished ranked 121st in total offense, 122nd in passing offense and 94th in scoring offense, which prompted Venables to dismiss Seth Littrell in October and hire Ben Arbuckle earlier this month.
When the Sooners hired Arbuckle, Venables expressed excitement for Arbuckle to work with running backs coach DeMarco Murray, offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh, wide receivers coach Emmett Jones and tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley. But retaining the offensive staff was not a requirement for Arbuckle.
"I asked everybody I interviewed, 'What are your non-negotiables?'" Venables said Friday. "And if you take this job, what do you need to have at your disposal to be successful? I led off every conversation that we've got a good staff, but nobody here is obligated to keep anybody."
However, Venables certainly wasn't looking to shake things up simply for the sake of it. He made several comparisons, including when Bob Stoops was hired by Steve Spurrier as the defensive coordinator at Florida after a 62-point loss to Nebraska in the 1995 Fiesta Bowl. Several members of that defensive staff were retained when Stoops was hired, and the Gators won the national championship following the year.
Venables also pointed to his own situation when he was hired as defensive coordinator at Clemson in 2011.
"I asked (Clemson coach Dabo Swinney), 'Who can I bring?' And he's like, you (can) bring one guy off the field," Venables said. "So I brought a guy off the field, and I had to go figure it out. And they had just given up 70 to West Virginia in the bowl and everybody wanted to get rid of everybody. But I got there and I figured out these are really good coaches.
"I have to develop chemistry and cohesion. I need to understand what they understand and how they coach and then I have to do a good job, as a teacher and a coach of coaches, of alright, this is the way we're going to do it moving forward. That staff went to four national championships and won a whole bunch of games."
Venables also pointed to the hiring of Zac Alley last offseason as OU's new defensive coordinator. Alley replacing then-defensive coordinator Ted Roof was the only change to the defensive staff.
"When Coach Alley came here, he brought one off-the-field guy and he was able to take us — we made steady improvement from year one to year two and then year two to year three, we took another huge step in a whole bunch of categories," Venables said. "He had to figure out the staff and keep all these guys that we lost three games with."
While the Sooners' offensive staff of on-the-field coach remains in tact, there haven't been some changes. Namely, analyst Kevin Johns — who was elevated to interim co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in October — is reportedly leaving for Oklahoma State to serve as quarterbacks coach, per Sports Illustrated.
The Sooners are also reportedly hiring John Kuceyeski as assistants quarterbacks coach, according to 247Sports. Kuceyeski served alongside Arbuckle at Washington State as the quarterbacks coach last season and was with Arbuckle in 2022 at Western Kentucky as director of player personnel.
Things can always change, but as of now, Venables remains committed to bringing in Arbuckle to work alongside the Sooners' offensive staff.
"(I) feel if we need a change, we certainly would do so," Venables said. "But ultimately, I made the decision. I hired Coach Arbuckle for the reasons I've already expressed, but for who we wanted to be on offense. I wanted an offense that could attract great quarterback play where you're pushing the ball down the field, you have an explosive offense that would be attractive to every skill player in the country. That's what this program has been known for, and it just so happened that it aligned when it comes to our staff.
"But for me, if (Arbuckle) needed to bring a couple guys, he would have been able to do that. And he has some off-the-field guys that were really important to him and so we've created an opportunity for him to bring them."
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