12/26/2023 football Edit

The best of Seth Littrell from his first media availability as Sooners' OC

Parker Thune • OUInsider

Co-Publisher

Some four weeks after being named Oklahoma's new offensive coordinator, Seth Littrell took the podium Tuesday at the Alamodome to field questions from the media for the first time since his promotion.

Littrell, 45, won a national championship as a fullback on the Sooners' 2000 team before embarking on a serpentine journey through the coaching ranks. He's previously called the offensive plays at Arizona, Indiana and North Carolina, and before returning to his alma mater in 2023 as an offensive analyst, he spent seven seasons (2016-22) as head coach at North Texas.

In his introductory statement after being tabbed as Jeff Lebby's successor, Littrell said that he was "extremely fired up to be the offensive coordinator" at Oklahoma, a remark that Littrell backed up several times throughout his Tuesday press availability. Here's the best of what he had to say.

I had two dreams in my life when it came to football. One was to play at the University of Oklahoma, like I talked about. The other one, it wasn’t the NFL. It was to coach at the university one day. I feel blessed to be living out my dream in that sense.

— Littrell on returning to his alma mater

I thought Coach Lebby did a phenomenal job, along with a ton of great coaches in that room. Just being around them every day, you’re going to learn and you’re going to grow. And it’s been a blessing for me just to have that opportunity this year.

— Littrell on his year as an off-field analyst at Oklahoma

The way we do things as a coaching staff… it’s not going to change. We’re all going to help each other. We’re all going to gameplan together. At the end of the day, on game day, someone calls it. But there’s a lot of help in between… Maybe on a crucial third down, someone’s going to speak up and say, ‘We need to run this.’ And that’s why we do it together, all week long.

— Littrell on how much of the offensive philosophy and execution will fall on him

I’m just as much of a fan as I am a coach. I’m a huge fan of Oklahoma. And so I have high expectations of this program, along with everybody sitting up here and everybody within our program. We know the expectations, and hey, we’re going to do everything we can to go out, compete and win championships.

— Littrell on the offensive standard (and overall standard) at Oklahoma

Looking back, now having been a head coach, I’ll be a much better assistant than I ever have been, because now I know what that guy feels in that seat each and every day — all the decisions and things that he has to do on a daily basis, plus the fact that there’s football also involved. It’s a very challenging job. There’s a lot on the head coach’s plate, and I want to do anything I can to take pressure off [him].

— Littrell on making the transition from head coach back to assistant coach

I told him, ‘We’re both getting our first start together.’ So it’ll be an amazing time. No one better to do it with. But like I told him, we got great playmakers around us, great coaches around us that are going to make plays for us too. So our job is to work as hard as we can in a collaborative effort with everybody else, and do our job — make the plays and manage the game that we’re supposed to, and let the guys around us make huge plays as well.

— Littrell on coaching Jackson Arnold in preparation for what will be Arnold's first collegiate start

I’m not a big egotistical guy. To me, it’s about all of us. We’re always learning; we’re always growing. I think ego stunts your growth, so I’ve always tried to set it aside… We’ll see when that time comes. I’m not putting any, I guess, limits on that. I have a strong faith, and me and my wife have a strong prayer life. I’m never going to put God in a box, per se. He’s always been very good in leading me to the right spots, and I wouldn’t have changed any spot. I think I’ve learned and grown and we’ve had a lot of fun on every stop that we’ve been on. Every journey, every adventure has been fabulous. So why put Him in a box now? At the end of the day, I love where we’re at and I’m really excited about our future here.

— Littrell on whether his past experience as a head coach feeds into a desire to be a head coach again

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