It’s no secret that the offense performed well below expectations for the Oklahoma Sooners this year.

With Jeff Lebby leaving at the end of the 2023 regular season to coach at Mississippi State, Sooner fans were hoping coach Brent Venables’ decision to promote from the program would pay off. Instead, the opposite has been done.

Seth Littrell and Joe Jon Finley were promoted to co-offensive coordinators. Littrell was the quarterbacks coach and primary play-caller. Finley continued to coach the tight ends.

However, it only took seven games for Littrell to be relieved of his duties. The offense was (and still is) broken and changes needed to be made. Finley was named interim play caller and offensive analyst Kevin Johns was promoted to interim co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

After showing promising signs from the duo against Ole Miss and Maine, the offense fell to a crushing defeat against Missouri. Finley and Johns won’t be the answer next season, and the outside search for Venables continues.

With questions surrounding the choice at quarterback, Jackson Arnold or Michael Hawkins Jr., looming issues on the offensive line that need to be resolved, there are a host of issues the new OC on the court will need to address this season.

Additionally, the questions about what will happen with the other offensive position coaches on the staff will be interesting to watch. Emmett Jones (wide receivers/passing game coordinator), Bill Bedenbaugh (offensive line) and DeMarco Murray (running backs) will have new bosses when they play in Norman next season.

There are many opinions on who Venables should hire, but one eyebrow-raising figure is starting to gain some steam. A former standout at OU has thrown his support behind a once-unlikely candidate.

Former defensive lineman Dusty Dvoracek believes former Mississippi State and Florida coach Dan Mullen should take charge of Oklahoma’s offense. He joined fellow OU standouts Gabe Ikard and Teddy Lehman last week on “The Oklahoma Breakdown with Ikard and Lehman” to weigh in on why he’d call Mullen if he were Venables.

“On my list, the No. 1 person I call is Dan Mullen,” the ESPN college football color commentator said. “I have no idea if, short of a great head coaching opportunity, he would even want to have this conversation. If you ask me what I would do, I would pick up the phone and make him say no. … The guy can coach offense with anyone in the sport, and he can develop quarterbacks as well as anyone in the sport.”

Dvoracek and Mullen are colleagues at ESPN. The latter has been a studio analyst and color commentator since the 2022 season. It’s his performance since being fired by Florida late in the 2021 regular season.

Mullen was Florida’s offensive coordinator under Urban Meyer when the Gators won two national championships in the 2000s. He developed Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow during that time.

He became the coach of Mississippi State in 2009 and served there until 2017. The Bulldogs had some of their best years under Mullen, including the 2014 season in which they reached No. 1 in the rankings and defeated Alabama. He mentored Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott during his time in Starkville.

He returned to Florida as coach in 2018, leading to three good seasons before being fired during a rough 2021 season. His supporters note his success as a play caller in the SEC, while his detractors point to his lack of a strong recruiting presence in his final years with the Gators.

It is imperative for Venables to complete this offensive search for a coordinator. His future and that of the program rest so heavily on him getting this move right heading into a make-or-break 2025 season.

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