Oklahoma Football’s Offensive coordinator hot board

On October 20th, Brent Venables decided to fire offensive coordinator Seth Littrell after a slow start. Let’s break down some top candidates to replace him next season.

Let’s bring this thing all the way back to December 10th, 2021. When Oklahoma brought in Jeff Lebby to return to his alma mater to become the team’s offensive coordinator and Quarterbacks coach under Brent Venables.

After the mass hiatus of offensive talent after Lincoln Riley spurned the Program for USC, the Sooners have had instability on that side of the ball.

We all knew Lebby was a year or two away from being a head coach somewhere when he was hired. Then you have to take into account Oklahoma’s THREE different WR coaches (Cale Gundy, La’Damian Washington, Emmett Jones) in three years under Venables and the transfer portal heavy and massively inconsistent offensive line play.

For Saturday’s game against Ole Miss on the road (and the rest of the season moving forward), Brent Venables promoted Co-Offensive Coordinator Joe Jon Finley and offensive analyst Kevin Johns (Duke’s offensive coordinator prior to his stop at Oklahoma) to spearhead this struggling offensive unit.

Although the Sooners took a step forward on that side of the ball (hard to not accomplish that goal) in their 26-14 defeat, the team still allowed TEN sacks in the loss, a school record. Not to mention the week before, when the offensive line gave up nine sacks against South Carolina.

Although Joe Jon Finley and staff are coaching for their jobs moving forward, it’s evident that Brent Venables HAS to nail his next offensive coordinator hire. His job is on the line.

Let’s break down some potential hires below.

Zac Taylor

The decision to elevate Seth Littrel & Joe Jon Finley (both played for Oklahoma) was made with continuity in mind, but felt like the lazy hire when looking back. A nationwide coaching search never happened. No phone calls were ever even made to gauge interest. And trust me, there is PLENTY of interest in the university of Oklahoma. Especially with their track record on that side of the ball.

When asked about making a hire with ties outside of the program, Brent Venables said he “Couldn’t care less” about OU ties.

Although Zac Taylor didn’t attend college at Oklahoma, the Cincinnati Bengals head coach grew up in Norman, Oklahoma and would give Brent Venables a proven offensive mind that he desperately needs.

Although he still technically has a job, the Bengals have now dropped to a 3-5 record and Taylor’s coaches seat could be getting really warm. If he’s relieved of his duties, Venables and company should be prepared to create an offer for Taylor that he can’t decline.

On Sean McVay’s coaching staff with the Rams before becoming the head coach for the Bengals, Taylor is known for his development of Jared Goff and Joe Burrow, making the Super Bowl with both Quarterbacks. If the Sooners can convince Jackson Arnold (benched for three games this season) to return to the program next season and not enter the transfer portal, Taylor’s vast experience with Goff, Burrow and Ryan Tannehill should help the former top ranked Quarterback tremendously.

Dan Mullen

Mullen was a former SEC head coach for Mississippi State and Florida with a record of 103-61 (7-3 in bowl games). After being fired in 2021, he’s been on TV for ABC & ESPN, but is reportedly a good friend of Brent Venables and could be looking to get back into coaching.

Sooner fans should he familiar with Mullen’s offense, facing the Florida Gators in the 2020 Cotton Bowl. In that season, he had the Gators ranked as the 13th overall offense in points per game and first in the country in passing with standout players like  Kyle Trask, Kadarius Toney and Kyle Pitts.

Many members of Florida’s coaching staff  are also available to potentially follow Mullen to Norman. If Oklahoma brings in a new offensive coordinator, you can’t expect them to force their remaining staff on the new coach. You should expect wholesale changes.

Offensive Line coach John Hevesy is a long time Dan Mullen disciple, who hasn’t been on a coaching staff since Mullen’s firing and would be an obvious choice to replace the struggling Bill Bedenbaugh, who gives you proven SEC experience.

Greg Knox coached Florida’s running backs and was the interim head coach for the Gators and Bulldogs after Mullen’s departures from both schools. He currently is back on Mississippi State’s coaching staff after taking his third interim head coaching position last season when the team fired Zach Arnett.

He currently is in a player development role under Jeff Lebby, but could bring his vast SEC coaching experience to Oklahoma to reunite with Mullen in Norman.

The Tight Ends coach responsible for the development of 4th overall pick Kyle Pitts, is Tim Brewster who is currently on staff at the university of Charlotte and would be excited for the chance to get back into the SEC coaching ranks if given the opportunity.

Names like Brennan Marion at UNLV have been mentioned as potential candidates and probably should be on this list, but Venables can’t take risks on a rather unproven play caller. Not to mention, he can’t hire a guy who is trending towards becoming a head coach in a couple of years like Marion is.

This is why a name like Dan Mullen makes a lot of sense.

Tony Elliot

Similar to Chip Kelly stepping down from his head coaching position at UCLA to be the offensive coordinator at Ohio State, Oklahoma should consider poaching an offensive minded head coach from a lower level school to head up the offense.

Tulane’s offensive coordinator, Joe Craddock has been a name that’s been linked to Oklahoma due to his connections with Brent Venables from his time at Clemson, but I personally feel as if that’s such lazy hire. We’re no longer in the Big-12, we have to make big moves if we’re going to succeed in the SEC.

Tony Elliot won the Broyles award in 2017 (Which goes to College Football’s top assistant) and won two national championships at Clemson in 2016 & 2018 as the Tigers co-offensive coordinator.

He accepted the Virginia head coaching position in 2022, but currently has just a 10-20 record.

Although things haven’t went according to plan with him as the head man, there’s a proven track record with him being a play caller. Much more proven than Brennan Marion, Joe Craddock or Liberty’s Willy Korn (Another name that’s been mentioned in coaching hot boards).

Shannon Dawson

If Oklahoma can’t lure a lower level head coach to join the program as an offensive coordinator, they should look at a short list of offensive coordinator’s in the country with a proven track record.

When looking at the top offenses in 2024, you’ll stumble across Miami being ranked as the first overall team in the country in points scored per game, with 46.8 per contest. They rank first nationally in total yards per game (560.8), and second in passing (366.8).

Although there’s no Oklahoma ties (Which Coach Venables stated he doesn’t care about), Dawson does come from the Dana Holgorsen coaching tree, which is Derived from names such as Hal Mumme, Mike Leach, Kevin Sumlin and Mike Gundy. All familiar names within the program.

Additionally, it wouldn’t shock me if Dawson pulled a Ryan Day and hired his mentor to his staff, by asking Holgorsen to be the team’s Quarterback’s coach/passing game coordinator. He currently is in an advisory role at TCU and would jump at the opportunity to get back into coaching. His experience as a head coach should also prove to be complementary to Brent Venables, when it comes to situational football.

Dawson also appears to be a solid recruiter, bringing in three top ten recruits at their respective positions (SJ Alofaituli, Joshua Moore & Girard Pringle) in Miami’s 2025 recruiting class and SEVEN total four star offensive recruits, when you look at On3’s industry rankings.

When looking back at Dawson’s career, it’s proven that when he gets a difference maker at Quarterback (Geno Smith & Cam Ward), that he has tremendous success. With either Jackson Arnold or Michael Hawkins Jr on the roster next year, it should give Sooner fans hope for what he could do at the program in the future.

And the next offensive coordinator at the University of Oklahoma is…..

What do you guys think of the four name list of Zac Taylor, Dan Mullen, Tony Elliot and Shannon Dawson? In my opinion, many names that have been brought up by others are just simply not good enough for where we want to be as an SEC program.

Oklahoma needs a proven play caller, who will have a long tenure at the university, creating the stability that Brent Venables desperately needs.