The Oklahoma Sooners have determined who will be replacing Jeff Lebby, who left his offensive coordinator post to be the head coach at Mississippi State.
According to a report from SoonerScoop, the Sooners have named Seth Littrell and Joe Jon Finley co-offensive coordinators. Littrell and Finley take the reins of one of the best offenses in college football with some of the best young skill talent in the nation.
Littrell has long been considered the favorite for the job after joining the Sooners as an offensive analyst. Finley, the Sooners tight ends coach, has a growing reputation inside the program as an offensive mind. The two now set out to forge Oklahoma’s offensive identity in the wake of Lebby’s departure.
Both Littrell and Finley played for the Oklahoma Sooners.
Littrell played running back for Oklahoma from 1997-2000 and was a part of the Sooners national championship team. He’s had various coaching stops that included runs as an offensive coordinator at Arizona, Indiana, and North Carolina. After his stint in Chapel Hill, Littrell took the head coaching job with the University of North Texas, where he helped the Mean Green reach a bowl game six out of his seven seasons in Denton.
At each stop, Littrell helped improve the offense in total yards and points year over year. Littrell will work with the quarterbacks.
Finley played tight end for the Sooners from 2004-2007. After serving as a graduate assistant with the Sooners, Finley has been an assistant at Missouri, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M before landing with the Oklahoma Sooners. He played a role in relaying the offensive signals this season, with Jeff Lebby calling plays from the booth.
Also of note is that Oklahoma keeps its offensive staff largely intact. Stoia writes, “No full-time assistants are expected to follow Lebby to Starkville. Instead, there is an expectation that staffers Phil Loadholt, Benton Duby, Tanner Schafer and Matt Holecek will join Lebby at Mississippi State.”
In the promotions of Finley and Littrell, the Oklahoma Sooners maintain continuity on the offensive side of the ball. Their experience with Lebby will make for a more seamless transition as the Sooners take their offense to the SEC. Though there might be some philosophical differences in their approaches, Littrell and Finley can keep the language of the offense largely the same.
Now the Sooners can begin shoring up their 2024 recruiting class and explore the transfer portal for options to add depth and upgrade talent on both sides of the ball.
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