Oklahoma fired offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle on Monday and handed play-calling duties to tight ends coach Jason Witten, the school confirmed, two days after the Sooners were outgained 307-71 in the first half of a 42-25 home loss to South Carolina. The move makes Witten, a former Dallas Cowboys tight end, Oklahoma’s new offensive play-caller as the program tries to save a season that has produced the worst offensive numbers in the SEC.
The Main Development
Arbuckle, 31, is out after less than two full seasons in Norman. He arrived in 2024 from Washington State, bringing quarterback John Mateer with him, and was once compared to Lincoln Riley for his quick rise through the coaching ranks and West Texas background, according to Footballscoop. Those comparisons did little to shield him once the offense stalled in 2026.
Witten, 44, takes over play-calling duties after one season as Oklahoma’s tight ends coach. He spent 17 years in the NFL, 16 of them with the Cowboys, made 11 Pro Bowls and ranks fourth all-time in NFL history with 1,228 receptions, 13,046 receiving yards and 74 touchdowns, according to Sporting News. Before joining Oklahoma’s staff in 2026, he led Liberty Christian School in Argyle, Texas, to back-to-back Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools state titles in 2023 and 2024, per Bleacher Report.
What It Means
The coordinator change is Oklahoma’s sixth new play-calling arrangement in six years. The program’s last two full-time coordinator hires were each fired midseason after less than two years on the job, a pattern that started soon after Jeff Lebby left for Mississippi State and continued when head coach Brent Venables fired Seth Littrell just seven games into his first season in 2024, according to CBS Sports.
Venables did not hide his frustration after the South Carolina loss. “Incredibly pissed at myself and for all of us. Just embarrassing.
It’s embarrassing in every way,” he said, per Footballscoop. Handing the offense to a first-year position coach with no prior play-calling experience at any level signals that Venables saw the Arbuckle era as unsalvageable rather than fixable with in-season tweaks.
Context: An Offense In Last Place
The numbers explain the urgency. Oklahoma ranks last in the SEC in yards per game at 321.3 and second-to-last in points per game at 22.0, according to Bleacher Report. Nationally, the Sooners rank 115th in yards per play at 5.18, 128th in rushing at 106.75 yards per game and 98th in explosive plays with fewer than four per game, per Footballscoop. The run game has been a particular problem: Oklahoma ranks No. 131 in the country at 3.2 yards per carry with a nation-worst three rushing touchdowns, and Pro Football Focus grades its run-blocking unit 105th in the country, behind UTEP.
Mateer’s interception numbers show some inconsistency depending on the window measured. He has thrown seven interceptions in his last eight games, and 27 touchdowns against 18 interceptions across 20 career starts, according to Bleacher Report and Footballscoop.
Team Impact
Witten inherits a passing attack that has leaned on his own position group. Rocky Beers is second on the team with 34 catches for 446 yards and leads Oklahoma with four touchdown receptions, while Hayden Hansen has added seven catches for 84 yards and a score, per Sporting News. Backup quarterbacks Whitt Newbauer and Bowe Bentley remain behind Mateer on the depth chart.
Earlier this season, discussing his jump from the NFL to high school coaching, Witten said, “The greatest teaching tool for me was coaching high school because it really taught me, coming from the NFL, that they don’t learn like I do. I learned they don’t have the same expectation. So how do I impact, how do I reach them, how do I get that?”
What’s Next
Oklahoma is 4-4 overall and 2-3 in SEC play, putting the Sooners at serious risk of missing a bowl game for the first time since John Blake’s final season in 1998. No timeline has been given for when Witten’s play-calling duties officially begin, and it remains unclear whether the arrangement is permanent or interim as the Sooners try to salvage bowl eligibility over their remaining regular-season games.
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