By Mike Kays
Phoenix Sports Editor
November 20, 2008 12:20 am
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Seth Littrell has been down this road before.
The former Muskogee Rougher was a running back on the 2000 national championship football team at Oklahoma. On Saturday, as Texas Tech’s running backs coach, he, head coach Mike Leach and the rest of the Red Raiders contingent will attempt to move a step closer to that same pinnacle of success when the nation’s second-ranked team comes to Norman to battle the No. 5 Sooners.
It all feels familiar to Littrell, who served as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma before moving on to a similar post with Mark Mangino at Kansas. He’s in his fourth year at Texas Tech. Leach was Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator in Littrell’s junior year in 1999 before taking the Tech job. Mangino took over in 2000 before going to Kansas.
“The big similarity in the 2000 team and this team is that in 2000, one really put pressure on us to win because no one expected us to win it all in the first place,” Littrell said. “And like that team, this bunch really doesn’t care what anyone outside the program thinks about what we’re doing or where we’re at.
“Their focus is totally on the next game because they’re aware, especially in this conference, that anyone can beat you. I mean we’re going into a place where the opposition is 60-2 and has a very exceptional offense. Even if we get by them, Baylor’s got a great quarterback and a very improved team. You can’t take a week off and these kids, like us in 2000, are very aware of that."
Littrell’s father, Jim, played on the 1974 national championship team at OU. He still resides in Muskogee.
“It hasn’t changed with me the whole time he’s been coaching and it’s just like I told my friends, I’m a Tech fan and have been the past four years,” Jim said. “I appreciate the time I was there at OU and next week I’ll be back to being a fan but until someone has kids, they really can’t understand that dynamic. I think I’m like most dads in that I’m going to follow and cheer for the success my kids have.”
Jim said along the line he’s had some core advice for Seth as he pursues his career.
“The two most important things about that type of job, or really any job, is networking and leaving a good impression with your hard work everywhere you go,” Jim said. “He’s established that. He always said he never wanted to leave Mangino but the situation and opportunity presented itself at Tech and it was too good to pass up. It will be hard for him to leave Leach too, but again, that opportunity might arise.
“But, he knows the system he’s in. He’s played in that system and now, he’s coaching it. So whatever he does with it boils down to networking and trust — trust of others and trusting your own instincts.”
The way the ball flies through the air in Lubbock, some may view Seth’s job of working with running backs in the wide-open spread offense that Leach runs as being closer to a line coach than that of a productive skill position. The spotlight on that work at least casually speaking, seems narrow.
On top of that, last year, Tech was dead last in the nation in rushing offense. It’s now 74th. Baron Batch, a sophomore, ranks ninth among Big 12 running backs with 667 yards, but with 93 carries amounts to a per-carry average of 7.2 yards, best in the conference. Teammate Shannon Woods (116 carries, 588 yards) is next.
“We had some issues with inexperience and just not being very good last year,” Seth said. “In the offseason I got with our offensive line coach (Matt Moore) and went over when things like what schemes versus which fronts and got everything on the same page. We were young last year and that showed too.”
There may not be an Adrian Peterson-type back. Indeed, in Leach’s system, it’s all about the quarterback and this year, that focus is current Heisman front-runner Graham Harrell. Tech averages 433 yards a game passing, vastly overshadowing its 132 yards rushing.
No matter, said Seth.
“This is the perfect offense to be coaching in,” he said. “People don’t understand that if they’re focused on how many yards we have and yet they’ll overlook the fact that my guys will get more touches than anyone in the game becaus they’re not just running the ball on occasion but running option routes out of the backfield and getting the short passes which allow the wideouts to spread the field.”
Tech’s rise to national title prominence in 2008 has increased speculation that Leach will be lured elsewhere in 2009. Tennessee, among others, has hinted intense interest.
“Personally speaking, I doubt very seriously if he leaves,” Seth said of Leach. “I can’t speak for him but this hasn’t been the first year people have come knocking.
“At this point, for me personally, it would be hard to ever leave Leach. Every year you learn something new from him.”
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Photos
Seth Littrell, a former Muskogee Rougher, coaches running backs for Texas Tech.
Seth Littrell dives for the end zone in a game against Oklahoma State in 1999.