By: Dave Myrick & Rives Mitchell
The Oklahoma Sooners are having one of their worst seasons offensively, on record.
The 24’ Sooners entered this season full of optimism after a showing from Jackson Arnold against Arizona in the Alamo Bowl flashed elite QB play… he also flashed a true freshman quarterback. But under a make-shift offensive line, and running backs who were all back in the fold for this year, hopes remained high that under then O.C. Seth Littrell, Oklahoma would not only survive Dillon Gabriel’s departure, but flourish in his absence.
injuries to assumed starting wide receiver’s Jayden Gibson and Nic Anderson right out of the gate certainly didn’t help. Jalil Farooq would then join them on the shelf with a broken foot in game one, and bad went to worse once Oklahoma began playing conference opponents. After scoring 15 against Tennessee, Oklahoma would get a miraculous win over Auburn on the heels of a defensive touchdown where the offense only scored two touchdowns. They would score 3 against Texas, 9 against South Carolina en route to a 1-3 conference start. The writing was on the wall for head coach, Brent Venables. A change had to take place within the staff, and offensive coordinator Seth Littrell was let go. Joe Jon Finley assumed the interim role of play-caller.
This will not be the case as 2025 begins for the Oklahoma Sooners. They will be, and are looking for someone to lead this offensive team into another gauntlet of a schedule next season. Some hot names being floated:
Joe Craddock, Tulane. While Craddock and the Wave are having an excellent season, outside of success with SMU from 15-17 there’s not a lot there in terms of sustained offensive output. Craddock has served with a new team each of the past 4 seasons, but appears to have caught lightning in a bottle this season for the Green Wave. I’m not sure he will have the track record needed to really provide a big buzz upon being hired, but no doubt runs a fun and different system.
G.J. Kinne, Texas State. Speaking of SMU, Kinne was on the Stangs staff in 17’ along with Joe Craddock. All from the Morris tree of offensive coaches, and Kinne incorporates some of what Gus Malzahn does in the quarterback run game. At UCF, with none other than Dillon Gabriel as his QB while on staff as OC in 2021, after a Gabriel injury Kinne led the Knights to a bowl win against Florida. He would then take the head coaching job at Incarnate Word, where his quarterback would amass 71 total TD’s, 4686 yards through the air and another 711 on the ground. Kinne is a great offensive mind, but the struggle will be luring him away from a head coaching job to accept a coordinator spot at Oklahoma when Kinne is positioning himself to possibly be offered a step up head coaching spot.
Mike Shanahan of Indiana is probably the hottest name as of right now in college football and offense. He’s been with IU head coach Curt Cignetti for 8 years through various stops. It would be hard pressed to pull Shanahan away from Cignetti at this point without the pair going anywhere together, but money talks and Oklahoma will be in position to be very competitive with this hire and what they can offer. Under Shanahan, Indiana is averaging 43 points a game this season, including 276 yards through the air. The Hoosiers are undefeated, and both coaches will be highly sought commodities at seasons end.
Dan Mullen, ESPN broadcaster. Once upon a time, Dan Mullen was the *it name in college football as it went to offense. But sometimes, coordinators who are really good at what they do, just don’t work out at the head coaching level. It happens. This could very well be the case with Mullen. As OC at Utah under head coach Urban Meyer, and again at Florida, Mullen had great success. Mullen would coach Alex Smith at Utah with Meyer in 04, Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow, Dak Prescott and Kyle Trask all played for and were coached by Dan Mullen. Success as an OC didn’t go unnoticed and Mississippi State would come calling for his services. Mullen would be with the Bulldogs from 09-17, and during that span propel Mississippi State to the number one team in the country at one point. This success would land him a gig with the Florida Gators. There, his success would fall off drastically. As Florida themselves as a program have suffered hardships along the way that did not make Mullen’s job easier. Be that as it may, he was ousted on November 21st of 2021 while the Gators sat at 5-6. He has since been killing time as an analyst for ESPN college football.
Whoever gets the nod, and it may not be a name listed, in fact probably won’t be the way these things work, has to be someone that the fan base, recruits, and players alike already in the locker room are excited about. Believe in. Have a trust they can come in and right the ship.
I would say, grab a former head coach and let him handle the offensive side of the ball for 2025, but that didn’t work out very well for 24. I like Mullen as an offensive coach, I just don’t know with how much he likes to run QB power and some of his other rushing schemes, if that style* is at Oklahoma right now as far as what’s in the building.
Kinne, I really like. I’ve just heard he is holding out for some other things head coaching wise in Texas, we will see if OU thinks they can lure him up I-35 or not.
Like the other two, Shanahan is very good, but has a lot of reasons you don’t think OU can get him to make the move. If they do, what is he really without Curt Cignetti ? What’s Indiana’s ceiling, after a fairly weak schedule ? Ie., a lot of questions.
Joe Craddock is having a very good year. He’s found something in RS-FR QB Darian Mensah. Add in the fact the cupboard wasn’t bare in New Orleans after Willie Fritz vacated to Houston, and it’s been a good marriage for a season. I’m just not sure the long term track record is there with a guy like Craddock.
The point is, there’s no perfect candidate. And one isn’t going to magically appear. Will someone be willing to walk away from a good situation into the unknown in Norman ? Will they feel they have a quarterback waiting if they do ? All these things will have to be answered, and will over the next few months. We just wanted to give our thoughts on this coaching search as it is no doubt underway
