Sports fans know that players, especially collegiate, develop as they gain more experience. Often, however, they do not account for this with coaches, who tend to be blamed as the scapegoat and cast out due to the expectation of immediate success.
Ben Arbuckle, Washington State University football offensive coordinator, began his tenure on the Palouse in 2023, starting the season white hot offensively through four games before fading back down the stretch. The Coug faithful are so accustomed to offensive success in recent history that it may have been a head-scratcher. But in week one of 2024, the electricity was back.
The Cougs won 70-30 over Portland State, putting 70 on the board for the first time since 1997, and scoring the most points in a half (49) since 2018. The play calls were not much different, despite some changes in formations, but the versatility was there like never before, said wide receiver Kyle Williams.
“It just shows you how versatile his offense is. It shows you how many key components we have. You can’t key in on just one person. We could throw the ball, we can run the ball. So it’s a deadly offense and I love it,” Williams said.
Arbuckle threw for over 9,500 yards and 75 touchdowns at the high school level in Canadian, Texas before playing collegiately at West Texas A&M University. He worked his way through the collegiate coaching ranks quickly, becoming the offensive coordinator at Western Kentucky University in 2022.
After just one season Arbuckle secured the job as the OC at WSU, at 27 years old he became the youngest Power 5 primary coordinator in the country at the time.
With growth comes growing pains, but he may be taking the next step, WSU head coach Jake Dickert said.
“Ben has really grown as a coordinator. I think he’s really grown as a leader. I think you can only get that type of growth through some hard times. There are some times we underachieved last year, and I think it allowed us to take a step back, see where need to get better and he’s responded every step of the way,” Dickert said. “I’m really proud of him.”
Often times fans have an easier time giving players, especially those ranked higher by any metric or after their first season, a pass. They have patience, trusting they will improve, and that the player will choose to improve.
When it comes to coaches, even in the college game, many times success is expected much faster, progression much more rapidly and the blame for player performance lands on them. But when it comes to the evolution of both players and coaches, the choice is the same, and sometimes you need a little help, Dickert said.
“As a coach, we have the same choice the player has to make when you don’t get what you want. I’m proud of [Arbuckle] as a leader. How thorough we’ve been to [the PSU] and every gameplan has been really exciting to see and I think coach [Jared] Caster has been just phenomenal for coach Arbuckle and what he’s brought to the table.”
Dickert has exit meetings at the end of each season with his staff, the same way the staff has their exit meetings with the players. The coaching staff for Dickert is his position group, Arbuckle said, and in his exit meeting, he was faced with a challenge.
“The biggest thing [Dickert] challenged me with that I’ve worked really hard to put into my own persona and spread out to everyone is communication. There’s a quote in a book I read that says ‘where communication lacks, negativity fills the void.’ It goes with everything. It goes with my family, my son, it goes with these players and my other coaches,” Arbuckle said.
In 2023 Arbuckle was both the quarterback coach and OC for WSU, a role he also held the year prior with WKU. In his role as a QB coach, he worked with Austin Reed at WKU who appeared with the Chicago Bears in the 2024 NFL preseason, and with Cam Ward at WSU who threw for 385 yards and three touchdowns in his first game at the University of Miami (FL.).
Cam Ward talks with offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle before taking the field, Nov. 4, in Pullman, Wash.
Arbuckle has developed elite quarterbacks each of the past two seasons, and even though his role has slightly shifted in 2024, his impact on and connection with the position is still great, WSU QB John Mateer said.
“He’s no longer the quarterback coach, but he helps us. He’s with us all the time, but his main focus is scripting and getting ready for gameday so he has more time to do it. It’s been fun man, he’s excited for the [QB] group and running the ball is gonna help with that cause we can set more things up, but it’s been really fun,” Mateer said.
There may still be 11 more games left in 2024 and plenty more to prove, but the 28-year-old OC showed in game one of year two at the helm, that with a little more time, his offense can shine.
