Before he was one of the hottest coaching acquisitions in the ACC, Seth Littrell was a reserve running back for an Oklahoma program that had lost its way. Then, following Littrell's sophomore season, the Sooners hired Florida defensive coordinator Bob Stoops as head coach, and he hired a staff that included Mike Leach as offensive coordinator, Mike Stoops as defensive coordinator and Mark Mangino as offensive line coach.
Oklahoma won the national championship in 2000, and Littrell graduated that same year. His coaching career began as a graduate assistant at Kansas working for Mangino in 2002. By 2005, he was the running backs coach at Texas Tech under Leach. In 2009, he moved to Arizona, this time coaching under Mike Stoops, where he coached running backs, tight ends, h-backs and coordinated the offense. After a coaching change in Tucson, another Bob Stoops connection found Littrell at Indiana under former Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson, working as offensive coordinator, tight ends and fullbacks coach.
Coaching players like Rob Gronkowski and Nick Foles, and coordinating an offensive uprising in Bloomington, Indiana, of all places, pulled Littrell out of the Bob Stoops coaching tree for the first time, as North Carolina hired him away to replace new Arkansas State head coach Blake Anderson as assistant head coach for offense and tight ends coach.
North Carolina caught Littrell in action for a recent Tar Heels practice, where he spread his wisdom beyond just the tight ends, and ended with him calling plays during a live session.