A pair of fired Oklahoma offensive coordinators and former Sooner teammates are joining forces in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Austin Price of On3 reported on Tuesday that former OU offensive coordinator Seth Littrell is joining Josh Heupel's Tennessee Volunteers offensive staff for this upcoming season. Littrell's specific role on the staff is still unknown.
Littrell was in charge of the Sooners' offense for seven games last season before getting fired midway through his first year as co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. OU, a program traditionally known for its explosive offenses, had one of the worst offenses in the FBS last season under Littrell.
Coaching at OU was a dream job for Littrell since it was his alma-mater and he's an Oklahoma native from Muskogee. He played fullback and Heupel was the quarterback the last time the Sooners won a national championship in 2000 under Bob Stoops.
Littrell had stops as an offensive coordinator at Arizona, Indiana and North Carolina before getting his first and only head coaching job at North Texas in 2016. Littrell led the Mean Green to five bowl games and coached the program's all-time leading passing leader, Mason Fine, before getting fired in 2022.
He then joined OU as an offensive analyst in 2023 before getting promoted to co-offensive coordinator at the end of that season when Jeff Lebby left to become the head coach at Mississippi State.
After Littrell was fired, co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley took over play-calling duties for the rest of the season. Brent Venables then hired Ben Arbuckle away from Washington State to be the Sooners' new offensive coordinator at only 29 years old.
Heupel was also fired by his former coach, Bob Stoops, as OU's offensive coordinator in 2014. He was then offensive coordinator at Utah State and Missouri before his first head coaching job at UCF in 2018. He left UCF for Tennessee in 2021.
Heupel returned to Norman for the first time last season when his Volunteers beat OU 25-15 in the Sooners' first-ever SEC game. This season, Heupel and Littrell will host their alma-mater at Tennessee on Nov. 1.