The first casualty of a disappointing 2026 season for the Oklahoma Sooners was announced on Monday morning when Oklahoma moved on from offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ben Arbuckle after less than two seasons with the team. Tight ends coach Jason Witten will serve as interim offensive coordinator and play-caller for the rest of the season.
Arbuckle and quarterback John Mateer helped the offense take a slight step forward in 2025, as the Sooners made the College Football Playoff.
However, the offense took major steps in the wrong direction this year, and now Arbuckle's short time in Norman is over. With Mateer out of eligibility after this season, Oklahoma will have a new-look offense in 2027.
The OU offense is in Witten's hands for the
rest of this year, but the Sooners are set to have another offensive coordinator search under Venables. Simply put, Venables has to get this hire right.
We're going to exclude the potential hires that aren't overly realistic, such as Florida offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner or Texas State head coach G.J. Kinne. This list includes a variety of coaches with different backgrounds, but ultimately it's up to Venables to make the hire, which will likely happen in about a month.
Here are several candidates who could be a good fit.
Chip Kelly, Northwestern Offensive Coordinator
Northwestern offensive coordinator Chip Kelly probably checks the most boxes in terms of what OU is (hopefully) looking for. He's a brilliant offensive mind who has been the head coach at Oregon (2009-2012) and UCLA (2018-2023) and also in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles (2013-2015) and San Francisco 49ers (2016). Before he was coaching the Ducks, he was the OC at New Hampshire (1999-2006), before later landing the same gig in Eugene (2007-2008). Then, he was promoted to head coach, where he rose to fame.
More recently, he was the OC for Ohio State in 2024, and for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2025. He landed at Northwestern this year and is helping the Wildcats to a strong season in 2026. He's got plenty of experience, and he would not let things fall apart at OU on offense. He can also run a variety of offensive schemes, and he tailors it to what his team needs.
Kelly wouldn't be the "Oklahoma" hire, but maybe that's what the Sooners need. He's got an interesting past and isn't interested in recruiting, but he'd be a candidate who could get results on Saturdays.
Mitch Dahlen, Oregon State Offensive Coordinator
Oregon State offensive coordinator Mitch Dahlen would represent a different direction than Kelly. He's far less experienced, and he's coaching in the Pac-12 instead of a Power Four league, but his offense has been lethal this season, led by star quarterback Braden Atkinson.
Dahlen knows how to coach quarterbacks, and he's followed Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer around from Fresno State to Washington to Tuscaloosa, before going out on his own this season. He's working under head coach JaMarcus Shephard, another DeBoer disciple, in Corvallis this season, but he has full control of the offense. His work with Atkinson has been brilliant, but he's also tutored players like Jake Haener, Michael Penix Jr., Jalen Milroe, and Ty Simpson.
Dahlen has less than half a season of relevant experience as a play-caller, but he'll still be one of the top OC candidates in the country this offseason, because Oregon State has lit up the scoreboard. He has a lot of similarities to Arbuckle when OU hired him, which could turn Venables off to making that move.
Rob Ezell, Wake Forest Offensive Coordinator
Wake Forest offensive coordinator Rob Ezell is another younger name with less experience, but he does have almost three seasons of play-calling under his belt. He spent time at Alabama as an analyst under Nick Saban before working under Major Applewhite at South Alabama. When Applewhite became the new Jaguars head coach, Ezell was promoted to offensive coordinator and play-caller in 2024.
However, Ezell has spent the last two seasons under Jake Dickert with the Demon Deacons, where he's done an excellent job as the OC. Wake Forest is currently just a one-loss squad, and its offense is humming in the ACC. They are in line to make the league's title game if they take care of business over the next month.
Ezell has more experience than Dahlen, and more Power Four play-calling chops. However, Arbuckle was also Dickert's OC. That doesn't disqualify Ezell, but his relative youth and the step up to the SEC could give Venables pause.
Slade Nagle, Houston Offensive Coordinator
Houston offensive coordinator Slade Nagle brings experience, but not necessarily as a coordinator. He's been with the Cougars for the past two seasons under Willie Fritz, and he also coached under Fritz at Tulane from 2016 to 2023. Save for a stint coaching tight ends at LSU in 2024, it means Nagle has been with Fritz for a decade.
Only three of those seasons came as a coordinator and play-caller, including this season. He was a strong tight ends coach for the Mean Green before being promoted to OC for the 2023 season. He's had a good run as Houston's OC in 2025 and 2026. The Cougars have put together a potent offense this year, and they're in the mix for a Big 12 title game berth.
Nagle wouldn't be the flashiest hire, but he certainly knows what it's like to call plays for a defensive head coach, something Dahlen hasn't done and something Ezell has done for the last two years. OU would need to hire a proven quarterback developer to assist him, and Houston's current QBs coach is Shawn Bell.
Kevin McGiven, Utah Offensive Coordinator
Utah offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven would be a bit of a wild card hire for the position. He's a veteran coach with a lot of experience, but not much of it has been as a consistent year-to-year play-caller. In the last decade, he's had long stretches as an assistant at Oregon State and San Jose State, before a season as Utah State's OC last season. However, he's become a big name for his work with the Utes this season.
With Morgan Scalley replacing Kyle Whittingham as the head coach in Salt Lake City, and Whittingham taking OC Jason Beck with him to Michigan, Scalley hired McGiven and the Utes have the best offense in the Big 12. They're undefeated right now and have a powerful rushing attack.
McGiven runs a somewhat gimmicky offense at Utah, which would get a major test in the SEC. However, he is committed to the run game, which is what OU needs. He'd be a reach, but it's working in the Beehive State right now.
Landon Keopple, Texas State Offensive Coordinator
Texas State offensive coordinator Landon Keopple is working under Kinne right now. While Kinne may very well become a Power Four head coach this offseason for his work in San Marcos, the Sooners could look to pursue Keopple, who has been calling the plays for the Bobcats for the last two years. He worked under former OC Mack Leftwich (now at Texas Tech) on Kinne's staff in 2023 and 2024. He's worked under Kinne since 2020.
Keopple has less than two seasons of play-calling experience, and none of it has come at the Power Four level. However, the Bobcats have been putting up great numbers under his watch, and they have built a powerful rushing attack. How much of that is Kinne and how much is Keopple is yet to be seen, but his efficiency makes him an intriguing option despite his inexperience.
For those who want Kinne as OU's next OC, Keopple would be the closest thing to him. However, if the Sooners want a more proven coordinator, then he wouldn't be the pick.
Dean Kennedy, UCLA Offensive Coordinator
UCLA offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy has SEC experience at Mississippi State and Florida under Dan Mullen, but he's been coaching under Bob Chesney at Holy Cross, James Madison, and now UCLA since 2022. He has three-plus years of play-calling experience, but only this season has come in a power conference. However, the Bruins are undefeated (though relatively untested) and Kennedy's offense has navigated quarterback injuries well so far.
Kennedy's offenses run the ball, and he's coached quarterbacks for a number of years. While not as experienced as some coaches on this list, he does have more play-calling reps than coaches like Dahlen and Ezell, though a year of that comes at the FCS level. Hiring Kennedy would basically mean that OU is betting on what they've seen out of the UCLA offense this year.
There's risk involved with picking Kennedy, but reaching into the James Madison coaching pipeline has seemed to work well in recent years. Venables has quite the decision on his hands after moving on from Arbuckle on Monday.
Jason Witten, Oklahoma interim offensive coordinator
Jason Witten has zero experience as a play-caller at the collegiate level and feels like a long shot to retain the job after the 2026 season. However, he'll have an opportunity to make a case for keeping the offensive coordinator title over the next four weeks.
Despite how the final month of the season goes, Oklahoma will likely need a more established offensive coordinator to lead them into 2027, but Witten can put himself in the running for at least a promotion to co-offensive coordinator if things turn around in a big way for the Sooners, starting with this week's game against the Florida Gators.
Other Potential Candidates
- Barry Lunney Jr. - Illinois Offensive Coordinator
- Mike Locksley - former Maryland head coach
- Jonathan Brewer - Duke Offensive Coordinator
- Kade Bell - Pittsburgh Offensive Coordinator
- Rob Likens - SMU Offensive Coordinator
- Jeff Nixon - Syracuse Offensive Coordinator
- Seth Doege - Arizona Offensive Coordinator
- Marcus Arroyo - Arizona State Offensive Coordinator
- Aaron Roderick - BYU Offensive Coordinator
- Sean Brophy - Oklahoma State Offensive Coordinator
- Jordan Davis - East Carolina Offensive Coordinator
- Luke Schleusner - New Mexico Offensive Coordinator
- Corey Dennis - UNLV Offensive Coordinator
- Nate Potter - Boise State Offensive Coordinator
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X@Aaron_Gelvin.
This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Offensive Coordinator targets for the Oklahoma Sooners
