Oklahoma Offensive Coordinator Hot Board

The Sooners moved on from Seth Littrell on Sunday evening, meaning Brent Venables will have to make a massive hire to fix his Oklahoma offense heading into a key 2025 campaign.

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables during a college football game between Sooners and the South Carolina Gamecocks. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Oklahoma finally reached a breaking point on offense against South Carolina. 

One day after the Sooners fell 35-9 to the Gamecocks, where South Carolina’s defense matched OU’s point total with quarterback sacks, Brent Venables made a change at offensive coordinator. 

Seth Littrell, who was elevated to co-offensive coordinator alongside Joe Jon Finley after Jeff Lebby took the head coaching job at Mississippi State, is out. 

Finley will take over playcalling duties for the rest of the year, but Oklahoma’s offense has been so bad that the Sooners will have to look outside the program for answers to fix the unit in 2025.

It will be a massive hire for Venables, who has struggled in his third year at OU despite fixing the problems he inherited on defense when he took over in 2022. 

The Sooner offense ranks near the bottom of college football in essentially every major category, and Venables’ future in Norman likely hinges on getting this next hire right. 

Here is Sooners On SI’s initial hot board for OU's next offensive coordinator, looking at potential candidates for the opening who are currently sitting offensive coordinators across the country:

Andy Kotelnicki, Penn State

Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki / Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Former Kansas assistant Andy Kotelnicki has made an immediate difference at Penn State after making the offseason switch from Lawrence to Happy Valley. 

Before joining James Franklin’s staff, Kotelnicki had spent years with Lance Leipold. 

At Kansas, he built one of college football’s most explosive offenses, even when having to switch between Jalon Daniels and Jason Bean at quarterback due to injury.

This year, Penn State ranks 10th in total offense with the Nittany Lions averaging 471.2 yards per game and their 34.2 points per game ranks 28th in the country. 

Quarterback Drew Allar has made dramatic improvements in his first year playing for Kotelnicki. After completing just 59.9 percent of his passes a year ago for 25 scores and two interceptions, Allar is completing 70.5 percent of his passes in 2024, having thrown 11 touchdowns and four interceptions. His yards per completion has also jumped from 11.3 yards per catch a year ago to 14.5 in 2024. 

Peeling Kotelnicki away from Penn State would be a tough job for the Sooners, though. 

Franklin is established with the Nittany Lions and there is little risk of Kotelnicki suddenly being out of a gig due to Penn State making a coaching change. 

This year alone might warrant attention for Kotelnicki as a head coach, too, meaning his next stop could be to take over his own program instead of moving to rescue Oklahoma’s offense. 

Ben Arbuckle, Washington State

Former Washington State quarterback Cam Ward thrived for the Cougars under offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle. / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Ben Arbuckle’s first two offenses at Washington State have lit up the scoreboard, providing plenty of entertainment to the old “Pac-12 After Dark” time slot. 

Arbuckle joined Jake Dickert’s Washington State staff in 2023 after serving as the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Western Kentucky in 2022.

In 2023, the Washington State offense ranked 35th in yards per game (421.7) and fourth in passing yards per game (336.8) with Cam Ward puling the strings. 

Ward transferred to Miami, where he’s been at the forefront of early Heisman Trophy conversations, yet the Washington State offense has still found a way to produce. 

The Cougars are tied for 20th in total offense this year, averaging 459.4 yards per game, and are 15th in scoring offense, putting up 39.6 points per game. 

Brennan Marion, UNLV

Brennan Marion's UNLV offense is still rolling despite needing to use multiple quarterbacks in 2024. / Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images

Brennan Marion’s Go-Go offense has had to work through adversity this year. 

The Rebels lost quarterback Mathew Sluka after four games, yet UNLV is still 41st in total offense, averaging 429.1 yards per game, and fifth in scoring offense at 43.6 points per game.

Last year, Marion was nominated for the Frank Broyles Award, given annually to the top assistant coach in college football.

Prior to working with the Rebels, the former University of Tulsa wide receiver spent a season as Texas’ passing game coordinator in 2022 and a year as Pittsburgh’s wide receivers coach in 2021, where he coached Jordan Addison among plenty of other stops in his young coaching career. 

Mike Shanahan, Indiana 

Indiana offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan during fall practice at the Mellencamp Pavilion. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

Curt Cignetti is taking college football by storm at Indiana, which also will bring plenty of attention to his offensive protege, Mike Shanahan. 

Indiana leads the country in scoring offense (48.7) and is fifth in total offense (512.7), and yesterday’s 56-7 demolition of Nebraska moved the Hoosiers to 7-0 on the year. 

Shanahan, a former receiver at Pittsburgh, has spent nine years learning under Cignetti in stops at IUP, Elon, James Madison and now Indiana, and he may be in a spot to step away from working with Cignetti to advance his career further. 

Zach Kittley, Texas Tech

Texas Tech's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Zach Kittley during the Red Raiders' Spring Game. / Annie Rice/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Texas Tech’s Zach Kittley could be a somewhat familiar option for Venables. 

He also worked on the Western Kentucky staff with Arbuckle, and is a quarterback developer who studied under Kliff Kingsbury from 2013-2017. 

If Venables wants to stick close to the air raid, Kittley has already made inroads in Texas, and his offense is producing yet again for the Red Raiders. 

Texas Tech currently sits 18th in scoring offense (38.7) and 19th in total offense (459.7), and is propping up a Red Raider team that is struggling defensively. 

Jeff Nixon, Syracuse

Quarterback Kyle McCord is thriving at Syracuse under offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon. / Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

Jeff Nixon has done an excellent job at Syracuse in his first season back in college football.

He joined Fran Brown’s staff after spending the last four years in the NFL, first with the Carolina Panthers (2020-2022) then as the running backs coach for the New York Giants in 2023.

Nixon was Matt Rhule’s co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach from from 2017-2019 at Baylor before he made the jump with Rhule to the professional ranks. 

Working with former Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord at Syracuse, Nixon picked up right where he left off at Baylor in assembling a disciplined offense. 

The Orange are 12th total offense this year (469.5) and 32nd in scoring offense (33.8). 

Despite the offense rushing for just 104.3 yards per game this year, McCord has been able to fortify his side of the ball by completing 65.6 percent of his passes for 19 scores and just six interceptions so far this year. 

In his final year with the Bears, Baylor’s offense finished 17th in scoring offense, which helped the program reach the Big 12 Championship, where they ultimately fell to Oklahoma.