The Zach Kittley era at Western Kentucky has come and gone, with lots of points – 619, to be exact – scored along the way.

With the Hilltoppers’ 59-38 victory Saturday over Appalachian State in the Boca Raton Bowl at FAU Stadium marking the conclusion of a 9-5 season, it’s time to turn the page to the next chapter of WKU’s offense.

It’s one that, as of right now, will be led by Ben Arbuckle next season.

“It’s everything that I’ve worked for,” Arbuckle said in an interview with the Daily News the week before the bowl victory. “ … There’s a lot of responsibility that goes with it and I’m super thankful that coach (Tyson) Helton trusts me to step into that role. I like to think that I’ve worked very hard for him and for this football program over the last year. This new job, it comes with a lot of responsibility, a lot of trust and I’m just looking forward to giving Tops’ fans a lot of what they saw this year.”

What WKU fans became used to this year was scoring, scoring and more scoring. The Hilltoppers averaged 44.2 points and 536.3 yards per game – both marks were second nationally – and an FBS-leading 433.7 yards passing per game.

Kittley, quarterback Bailey Zappe and receiver Jerreth Sterns were the main recipients of praise for the offensive turnaround after WKU averaged just 19 points per game in 2020, after the three arrived in Bowling Green from Houston Baptist.

Kittley has taken the offensive coordinator role at Texas Tech, while Zappe and Sterns will both move on to the professional ranks. Offensive line coach Stephen Hamby will join Kittley at Texas Tech in the same role, and Bryan Ellis, who served as WKU’s co-offensive coordinator and inside receivers coach this year after two years as the program’s offensive coordinator, has moved on to take the offensive coordinator position at Georgia Southern.

WKU head coach Tyson Helton announced promotions within the staff before the bowl game, which included the move of Arbuckle from a quality control role to quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator. Helton said he’ll hire another offensive assistant and is unsure what role that would be in, but as things stand now, Arbuckle will call plays on game days.

“Ben has been in that room all year with Zach, he came here with Zach Kittley. I don’t think we blink an eye there,” Helton said. “I think he is a future star and I think he is going to do a tremendous job as a co-OC for us.”

Helton also promoted outside receivers coach Josh Crawford to co-offensive coordinator and Zach Lankford to offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator, while Carlos Locklyn will remain running backs coach and be the team’s run game coordinator.

Despite the changes, Arbuckle is expecting much of the same for the 2022 offense and its staff.

“They’re all very intelligent men and they all bring a lot to the table. It’s just going to be us sitting down and figuring out kind of what things maybe we can make better or if we have an idea or something, but for the most part, it’s going to be the same as what we saw this year,” Arbuckle said. “There might be a few changes on the inside with formations, a few route concepts here or there, but the base principle of everything is going to stay the same because it’s led us to a lot of success this year and I firmly believe in it.”

In addition to working with Kittley in the quality control role this season, he had also worked with the offensive mastermind in the past.

Arbuckle spent 2020 as co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Seminole High School in Texas, and worked with Kittley in a quality control role at Houston Baptist in 2018 and 2019. The Canadian, Texas, native played quarterback in college at West Texas A&M and graduated in 2018.

“Can’t say enough about him. He’s been my right-hand-man for three years. Love him to death. He’s going to be a tremendous asset to this team moving forward just like he was this year,” Kittley said. “He’s a young coach, he’s aggressive, he’s going to do what it takes to win games, no matter what that is. He’s going to be a great developer of the quarterbacks and just a great overall leader for this offense moving forward.

“… He’s put in his time, he’s worked his tail off, been right with me through the thick and thin, the good and bad for three years. I love him to death and just looking forward to seeing his career skyrocket moving forward.”

Arbuckle worked behind the scenes with WKU’s offense and in the quarterbacks room, which featured Zappe, who finished with statistically the best individual season in FBS history. In WKU’s bowl win, Zappe broke single-season records for passing yards and touchdown passes.

“He’s in all the meetings with me and Kittley and he sits in there and he takes everything in. I honestly don’t think there’s going to be any change really with Kittley leaving and Ben coming up,” Zappe said. “He’s a phenomenal coach, he understands this offense just as good as any of us and I don’t think anybody here is going to really feel any difference. I know going into next year he’s going to put a lot of points up like we have this year and I can’t wait to watch him do what he can do.”

WKU will need to replace several key pieces on offense, but Arbuckle says he’s “very excited about the team next year and the guys we have coming back,” and he’s confident the team can continue its offensive success.

“I’m going to take the same approach I have my entire career. I’m going to work to get to be where I want to be, work to get our team to where we want to be,” he said. “ … I just want everyone to know I’m all in, I’m invested and I’m ready to get this thing rolling.”{&end}