James Seth Littrell (born July 24, 1978) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach and former player who was most recently the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

and quarterbacks coach at the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

before parting ways with the university on October 20, 2024. He was the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

at the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...

from 2016 to 2022. Littrell attended the

, where he played four years as a fullback and was a team captain on the

Oklahoma Sooners football The Oklahoma Sooners football team represents the University of Oklahoma (OU) in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The program began in 1895 and is one of the most succ ...

team that won the 2000 national championship. He graduated in 2001 with a degree in communications and was a member of

Sigma Phi Epsilon Sigma Phi Epsilon (), commonly known as SigEp, is a social college Fraternities and sororities, fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College, which is now the University of ...

. His father, Jimmy, also played fullback at OU and won two national championships in 1974 and 1975.

Early life

Littrell was born in

Muskogee, Oklahoma Muskogee () is the 13th-largest city in Oklahoma and is the county seat of Muskogee County, Oklahoma, Muskogee County. Home to Bacone College, it lies approximately southeast of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tulsa. The population of the city was 36,878 as of ...

, and attended Muskogee High School. He played fullback and linebacker where he rushed for 1,385 yards and 29 touchdowns his senior year. He was named first team all state as a linebacker. He finished his prep career with a total of 3,603 rushing yards and 53 TDs. He was recruited by Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Tulsa, Arkansas, Kansas State and Texas. Littrell also wrestled and won two 5A state championship at 189 lbs.

Coaching career

Early career

Littrell started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Kansas from 2002 to 2004 under Mark Mangino, his former offensive coordinator at Oklahoma. Under Mike Leach, he was running backs coach at

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship institution of the five- ...

from 2005 to 2008. From 2009 to 2011, Littrell coached the offense at

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. Then from 2012 to 2013, Littrell was offensive coordinator and tight ends coach at

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. From 2014 to 2015, Littrell was assistant head coach for offense and tight ends coach at

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

under Larry Fedora. In Littrell's last season at North Carolina, the team finished 11–3 and first place in the ACC Coastal Division.

North Texas

On December 5, 2015, Littrell was named the head coach at

North Texas North Texas is a term used primarily by residents of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to refer to a geographic area of Texas, generally considered to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, Texas, Abilene, west of Paris, Texas, Par ...

. UNT hired Littrell after the Mean Green finished 1-11 in 2015. School officials moved quickly to sign Littrell to an extension following the season through 2021. After his first season which saw the team finish in a bowl game and with a 5–8 record, his second season his team broke through. With great play from future NFL back Jeffrey Wilson, senior Kishawn McClain, and the future program passing leader sophomore Mason Fine, the team finished the season with a 9–5 record. This was the first 9-win season in almost 40 years for UNT and led to another contract extension. The following season Littrell led the Mean Green to a 4–0 start with wins that included a 46–23 win over rival SMU, and a surprising 44–17 win over SEC Arkansas. The team finished again with 9 wins and a third consecutive bowl appearance. Littrell is 0–5 in bowl games with the most recent game coming on December 23, 2021, where UNT lost to Miami (OH) 27–14 in the Frisco Football Classic. North Texas fired Littrell on December 4, 2022, following a 7–6 season in which North Texas qualified for the Frisco Bowl but lost the conference championship game to UTSA. Defensive coordinator

Phil Bennett Philip Bennett (24 October 1948 – 12 June 2022) was a Welsh rugby union player who played as a fly-half for Llanelli RFC and the Wales national rugby union team, Wales national team. He began his career in 1966, and a year later he had taken ...

took over as interim head coach for the bowl game.

Oklahoma

On March 20, 2023, it was announced that Littrell would join the coaching staff at Oklahoma, his alma mater, as an offensive analyst. On November 29, 2023, Littrell was promoted to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Oklahoma, replacing Jeff Lebby after his departure to become the head coach at the

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, Un ...

. On October 20, 2024, the University of Oklahoma announced that it was parting ways with Littrell mid-season after posting the statistically worst Oklahoma offense since 1961 through 7 games.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Oklahoma profile

North Texas profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Littrell, Seth Living people 1978 births American football quarterbacks Arizona Wildcats football coaches Coaches of American football from Oklahoma Indiana Hoosiers football coaches Kansas Jayhawks football coaches North Carolina Tar Heels football coaches North Texas Mean Green football coaches Oklahoma Sooners football coaches Oklahoma Sooners football players Players of American football from Muskogee, Oklahoma Texas Tech Red Raiders football coaches