As the Sooners close in on a permanent replacement for dismissed offensive coordinator Seth Littrell, Brent Venables has faced numerous questions in recent weeks about the process of hiring for that specific position.
On Tuesday, he addressed the media for what may be the last time prior to the hire. It likely won't come all too long after the Sooners' Nov. 30 season finale at LSU. OUInsider.com has reported that Washington State offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle is the clubhouse leader for the position, although other candidates include Tulane's Joe Craddock, Pittsburgh's Kade Bell and Baylor's Jake Spavital.
After admitting candidly that he "made a mistake" in hiring Littrell, who lasted just eight games as Oklahoma's OC, Venables dished on the qualities that he covets in the Sooners' next playcaller.
"You certainly want people that [those] they've worked with have good things to say about ‘em — their leadership style, their energy," Venables observed. "What kind of a teammate are they? Their toughness, their ability to recruit, their ability to adapt, their humility, the things that they value. With all that, maybe it doesn't all have to fit in a nice, tight, tidy box, either. What did they play in college? Did they play in college? Some of the best ones never even played in college. So again, you always have a perspective with all of it. And then, where have they been? What does the tape say? Have they been able to be successful with the hand that they've been dealt?
"So you look at all of that, and I think it's important that, wherever they come from, people have good things to say," Venables continued. "Not looking for a choirboy. But also, we want to — we get to choose. And so we want to find someone that aligns with a belief system and a value system that we share. But at the same time, can we get better through this? [It doesn’t] have to be, ‘Everybody has to be just like me,' or just like what we've had in the past. So [we've] kept an open mind about all of it. And then there's analytical data that, man, you want it to say something. It tells a story. What does it say?"
The Sooners' new offensive coordinator will be tasked with restoring a downtrodden unit to its former glory. After a quarter-century of virtually uninterrupted excellence on that side of the football, the Oklahoma offense cratered in 2024 under Littrell's direction. He was eventually relieved of duty after a 35-9 home loss to South Carolina, at which point OU was averaging just 13.5 points per game in conference play. The unit has improved marginally since tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley stepped in as the interim playcaller, but still ranks last in the SEC in passing yards per game and total yards per game. Moreover, within the conference, only Kentucky (21.2 points per game) is scoring at a lower clip than Oklahoma (25.0 points per game).
The Sooners employed an unconventional offensive gameplan in their stunning 24-3 blowout of then-No. 7 Alabama last Saturday, as quarterback Jackson Arnold only attempted 11 total passes. OU appeared content to chew clock with a ground-and-pound rushing attack that racked up 257 yards on the evening, and the Oklahoma defense only had to defend nine Alabama possessions. The Sooners forced turnovers on three of those nine drives.
Schematically, Venables doesn't have any particular system in mind for the next iteration of Oklahoma's offense. He's primarily looking for one thing: functionality.
"It's one that's efficient, that's going to attract great players, that has a reputation in a scheme-friendly system that's going to attract great quarterbacks and skill guys — running backs, tight ends, receivers," Venables said of his desired scheme. "I think that's really important. How can we win? What style of offense that we can win in this league? You look at the styles through the years that have been successful and we've seen them all, something that you know that can transition quickly with the roster that we have."
The Sooners have played virtually all of the 2024 season without their top five receivers; Jayden Gibson has missed the entire season, while ballyhooed Purdue transfer Deion Burks has battled numerous injuries and been limited to five appearances. Nic Anderson, the Sooners' top returning receiver in terms of production, has played in just one game. The same is true for Andrel Anthony, who hasn't played since the season opener. Jalil Farooq broke his foot on the season's first drive, didn't return until the Missouri game on Nov. 9 and immediately suffered a setback that sidelined him once again.
Venables knows he'll have the cavalry coming back to the receiver room in 2025, and he's also quite aware that further improvements to the roster can be arranged via the transfer portal. In an ideal world, he wants an offense that can run the ball and throw the ball with equal aplomb.
"We do know that you can quickly change a roster through the current systems that we have in college football," Venables acknowledged. "But [a system] that gives you the right kind of balance — run, pass, efficiency, ball control, explosiveness, quarterback-friendly. To me, systematically, you don't have to have a generational, five-star, best quarterback in the portal every year to have a really successful efficient offense that gives us a chance to win our conference, [to] compete at the highest level, to be an offense that can do its part to help us get to the playoffs and win. And so I don't mind having a generational five-star, best guy in the country [type of] quarterback, but… a track record that shows if we lose that guy, this is an offense that still produces and puts stress on the defense and scores points, moves the ball."
It's evident why Venables doesn't want his offense to go as the signal-caller goes. Looking ahead to 2025, the program's quarterback situation is entirely unsettled. It's not clear if Arnold will return to Oklahoma or seek a transfer, and it's likely that the Sooners' next offensive coordinator — whoever that may be — will seek to bring in a competitive portal QB. The Sooners are also rostering another viable candidate for the job true freshman Michael Hawkins, who made three midseason starts when Arnold was briefly benched.
"We look at the things I just said: efficiency in all the right spots, good in the red zone, good on third [and] fourth down, has good ball control, can make all the explosive plays, can win games, do the things that's necessary to win games," Venables remarked. "But I like an offense that has some flexibility and can win different ways. So if that looks like five-wide, that looks like Ninja, if that looks like I-backs, if that looks like 13 and 14 personnel, if that looks like 12 personnel, all things are certainly under consideration. Again, I look at what it takes to win and compete in our league against the best teams."
It'll certainly take an uptick in production through the air, as only three Power 4 teams — Houston, Michigan and Iowa — are getting fewer pass yards out of their respective offenses than Oklahoma (172.8 yards per game). An Oklahoma quarterback has only surpassed 200 passing yards in a game twice this season; Arnold threw for 225 yards against South Carolina and 224 yards against Maine.
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