Brent Venables officially promotes Seth Littrell, Joe Jon Finley

OU coach Brent Venables has officially named Seth Littrell as the Sooners’ next offensive coordinator, with Joe Jon Finley serving as co-offensive coordinator.

As SoonerScoop.com reported Tuesday, Oklahoma is promoting both Littrell and Finley due to the departure of Jeff Lebby to Mississippi State. Littrell will serve as the play caller and quarterbacks coach while Finley will remain the tight ends coach but in an elevated role.

“I’m thrilled to announce two former OU players as our new brain trust on offense,” Venables said in a statement. “Seth and Joe Jon are going to make an amazing duo and lead a fantastic group of offensive coaches.”

Venables has worked closely with both Littrell and Finley.

Littrell played fullback for the Sooners from 1997-2000 and coached for Kansas, Texas Tech, Arizona, Indiana, North Carolina and North Texas. He most recently spent seven seasons as North Texas’ head coach, before being hired by Venables last year as a senior offensive analyst.

“I love the journey Seth’s been on since he left here as a player following our 2000 national championship,” Venables said. “He was one of my favorite players, even though I didn’t coach him directly. I just had so much respect for him — his toughness, his instincts, his attitude, his mindset and his love for everything Oklahoma, thanks in part to his dad playing here. It’s awesome to be able to welcome Seth back in a coaching role.

“He coached under Mike Leach for four years at Texas Tech and worked with other brilliant offensive minds like Mark Mangino at Kansas, Sonny Dykes at Texas Tech and Arizona, Kevin Wilson at Indiana and Larry Fedora at North Carolina. He was a play-caller for over a decade and worked with some high-level quarterbacks like Nick Foles, Nate Sudfeld, Marquise Williams and Mitch Trubisky, among others, as well as a bunch of other tremendous skill players. Our guys are going to love what he brings to the table every day.”

Finley and Venables also overlapped during Finley’s Sooner career. Finley played tight end for the Sooners from 2004-08 while Venables was the defensive coordinator. He’s spent time coaching at Baylor, Missouri, Texas A&M and Ole Miss before being hired as the tight ends coach at OU in 2021.

“And I’ve known Joe Jon since he was a 17-year-old quarterback at Arlington (Texas) High School playing for a legendary coach in his dad, Mickey,” Venables said. “Football and coaching have been in Joe Jon’s DNA his whole life. He’s got a tremendous offensive mind and his command and leadership of young people is special. He gained great experience at excellent programs, with stops at Baylor, Missouri, Texas A&M and Ole Miss, and has had exposure to some of the best offensive minds in college football. I really love what he is all about, with his offensive philosophy and the toughness he brings to the facility every day. He’s one of the best teachers and motivators I’ve been around.

“He’s incredibly bright and our players are going to love him in his enhanced role. He knows our system inside and out and he’s going to be a great head coach in the near future. He passed up on opportunities to be the sole coordinator at other programs because he wanted to do this at his alma mater. OU means so much to him. I’m incredibly grateful for his commitment and his decision to continue his coaching career here at OU in this elevated role.”

Venables also explained in the press release that this move was largely because of wanting to keep continuity within the program. The expectation is that OU will not lose any offensive staff members, despite Lebby attempting lure multiple assistants away with him to Starkville.

“Yes, this was an easy and convenient move,” said Venables, “but it was also the best move for our program, our players and our staff. I went through a thorough process and vetted and visited with a lot of candidates, including sitting head coaches, former head coaches, NFL assistants, quarterback gurus and others. But everything kept bringing me back to this duo and our offensive staff as a whole. Bill Bedenbaugh, DeMarco Murray and Emmett Jones combined with Seth and Joe Jon — there’s just great natural chemistry and cohesion, which is incredibly important.

“We’ve had great success the last two years offensively and this will give us a chance to continue to evolve as we transition to the SEC. Just like every year, there will be some things that are new next season. We’ll take advantage of what our roster allows us to. We’ve got a wealth of experience and exposure to different offensive systems and concepts, but in most ways, things will be really, really similar to what we’ve been doing. That’s a good thing.”