Oklahoma has tabbed its man to lead an offensive rebuild in the 405, as sources tell OUInsider.com that the program is expected to hire Washington State's Ben Arbuckle as offensive coordinator.

He'll be the permanent replacement for Seth Littrell, who was fired on Oct. 20 after just eight games as the Sooners' playcaller. At the time, Oklahoma was averaging just 13.5 points per game in SEC play. Since Littrell's dismissal, tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley had been serving as the team's playcaller.

Arbuckle is also expected to coach Oklahoma's quarterbacks, a role that had been handled on an interim basis by offensive analyst Kevin Johns since Littrell got the axe.

Arbuckle, 29, has called the shots for a high-octane Cougars offense over the past two seasons. A native of Canadian, Texas, his meteoric rise through the coaching ranks began in 2018 as an unpaid assistant at Houston Baptist. He took a job at Seminole (Texas) High in 2020, and spent one year as the school's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach before latching on at Western Kentucky. At the time, the Hilltoppers' offensive coordinator was Zach Kittley, who had previously hired Arbuckle to his first coaching job while at HBU. Arbuckle spent one year working for Kittley as an offensive quality control coach, but when Kittley left for Texas Tech in 2022, Arbuckle inherited the role of co-OC and quarterbacks coach for WKU. He spent the 2022 season as the program's principal playcaller, and the Hilltoppers had the No. 15 scoring offense and No. 1 passing offense in the nation under his direction.

Washington State hired Arbuckle as offensive coordinator prior to the 2023 season, pairing him with ballyhooed QB Cam Ward. At the controls of Arbuckle's offense, Ward completed 67 percent of his passes, threw for 3,735 yards and notched a 25/7 TD/INT ratio.

Ward transferred to Miami during the offseason, but Arbuckle's offense soared to new heights in 2024 with redshirt sophomore QB John Mateer at the helm. The Cougars raced out to an 8-1 record and an AP Top 25 ranking before a 38-35 upset loss to New Mexico in mid-November derailed their hopes of a CFP berth.

With Arbuckle now headed to Oklahoma, many across the nation will be awaiting a decision from Mateer, for whom the Sooners would be the obvious favorite if he chooses to enter the transfer portal. The 6-foot-1, 219-pound signal-caller hails from Little Elm, Texas, a suburb of Dallas that's less than two hundred miles from Norman. He has two years of collegiate eligibility remaining.

Arbuckle will be tasked with re-tooling an Oklahoma offense that cratered in 2024 after a quarter-century of consistent offensive excellence. Injuries to star wideouts Nic Anderson, Jalil Farooq, Jayden Gibson and Andrel Anthony didn't help, nor did a putrid Oklahoma offensive line that suffered several injuries of its own and showed a consistent inability to protect quarterbacks Jackson Arnold and Michael Hawkins. Rock bottom hit in mid-October with back-to-back losses to Texas and South Carolina, in which the Sooners were outscored 79-12 across the two contests and scored just one offensive touchdown. Over the course of the season, Oklahoma ranks dead last in the SEC in passing yards.

This story is developing and will be updated.

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