After Oklahoma’s 35-9 loss to South Carolina, Seth Littrell stood at the podium postgame and spoke words that would linger.
“Most coaches who have been in this profession long enough know you’re going to have some ups and downs,” Littrell said solemnly after the game on Saturday. “That’s why when things are great, you better humble yourself because, at the end of the day, it can go sideways real quick.”
Less than 24 hours later, Littrell was fired just seven games into his tenure as OU’s co-offensive coordinator.
However, for Sooners’ head coach Brent Venables, who spoke about the choice to dismiss Littrell during his coach’s show on Monday, it was not a single moment that motivated the decision. Instead, it was based on cumulative results.
“A lot goes into making those kinds of changes,” Venables said during the show. “Over the last several months there’s a body of work, and you look at all of it and you evaluate it, and obviously we haven’t played winning football on offense. So, you always go back and look at why.
“There are certainly issues from a roster standpoint, an injury standpoint, and those are very real. But, at the end of the day, you look at if we continue to do what we’ve been doing, there’s a good chance we’re going to continue to have the same results.”
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OU football co-offensive coordinator Joe Jon Finley before the game against Arizona on Dec. 28.
Littrell, who was a fullback on OU’s 2000 national championship team, had been the head coach at the University of North Texas for seven years before being fired after going 0-7 in conference title and bowl games. He then took an offensive analyst position with Oklahoma in 2023.
Littrell would later be named the co-offensive coordinator after Jeff Lebby left for Mississippi State last November.
Since Littrell took over, and especially after OU began navigating its Southeastern Conference schedule, Oklahoma has pieced together one of its worst offensive efforts in over two decades.
“This goes back to the very beginning of spring, through the summer, and then the season itself,” Venables said when talking about his decision to dismiss Littrell. “I looked at everything from the game plan, play design, sequencing, leadership, the details and little things.”
After the loss against South Carolina, OU is currently ranked 128th nationally in total offense, 107th in scoring and has compiled 11 turnovers.
Despite the offense dealing with the quarterback battle between freshman Michael Hawkins Jr. and sophomore Jackson Arnold, a never-ending offensive line rotation and multiple injuries to the wide receiver room, Venables confirmed the decision to fire Littrell was not rushed or made impulsively.
“At the end of the day, I felt that I gave it its time, and where I didn’t feel like I was rushing to judgment,” Venables said. “Everything doesn’t fall at the feet of coach Littrell either. I would be remiss if I didn’t say that. It is incredibly hard because there are so many people affected, there is a real domino effect, but at the end of the day I have to do what’s best for the players and certainly the program.”
Against No. 18 Mississippi on Saturday, OU will have the opportunity to earn a fresh start.
Arnold, who was taken out during the second quarter of the Tennessee game and had not played until Hawkins threw three interceptions against South Carolina in the first quarter, was named the starter by Venables on Monday. After a difficult start to the season, the sophomore quarterback will have the opportunity to perform under new leadership.
Current co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley and offensive analyst Kevin Johns will step up in Littrell’s absence. During the coach’s show, Venables explained his decision to have Finley calling the plays and Johns, who was not allowed to be on the field during the games when he first joined the staff, coaching the quarterbacks.
“They did not pass that rule until fall camp where these off-the-field people can actually coach,” Venables said of the countable coaches rule. “Because of all this, there has been a time where (Johns) hasn’t been intimately involved with the offense…When you only have a week to get all your verbiage down, that is a lot and it is not really fair to put him in that position. But, he’ll have a lot of influence, and he was like a pig in the mud today with the quarterbacks.”
Oklahoma is now looking ahead to Mississippi which is coming off an overtime 29-26 loss to No. 8 LSU (6-1, 3-0 SEC), and also beat South Carolina 27-3 the week prior.
Heading into the contest the Sooners are picked as a 21-point underdog. However, as OU moves on from Littrell and begins to look forward, Venables is hoping Finley, Johns and a clean slate will do the trick for his team.
“At the end of the day, the result has been the result, and it is all crap,” Venables said. “But maybe this provides a little bit of a spark because there will be real change.”
