UNC Officially Hires Seth Littrell

Via UNC press release.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora has hired Seth Littrell as the Tar Heels’ assistant head coach for offense and tight ends coach.  Current assistants Gunter Brewer (wide receivers) and Chris Kapilovic (offensive line) have been named co-offensive coordinators.

Littrell comes to Chapel Hill from Indiana where he guided one of the most prolific offenses in the country.  Indiana finished ninth in the country in total offense in 2013, averaging 508.5 yards per game.  The Hoosiers were 17th in passing offense (306.7 avg.) and 30th in rushing offense (201.8).  Indiana was one of only three teams to average more than 300 yards passing and 200 yards rushing.

"Seth has been a successful offensive coach and recruiter everywhere he’s been," said Fedora.  "He played on a national championship team at Oklahoma and has worked with some of the best college coaches in the country.  When I was at Oklahoma State and he was at Texas Tech, we coached and recruited against each other.

"I believe he’ll be a great fit for our program and for this University.  He will bring some new ideas to our offensive system and I’m excited to have him in Chapel Hill."

"I’m excited to be here and look forward to working for a great institution," said Littrell.  "This is a great coaching staff and I can’t wait to meet our players and get to work."

Littrell replaces Blake Anderson who left to become head coach at Arkansas State.

Under Littrell’s guidance last season, Indiana set single-season records with 6,102 total yards, 508.5 yards per game, 461 points, 38.4 points per game, 36 passing touchdowns, 62 total touchdowns and 300 first downs.  Tight end Ted Bolser thrived in his system, seting IU career records for receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns by a tight end.

In Littrell’s first season as Indiana’s offensive coordinator in 2012, the Hoosiers led the Big Ten and ranked 17th nationally in passing offense (311.2). They finished second in the conference in total offense (442.0) and fourth in scoring offense (30.8).

Prior to his stint at Indiana, Littrell coached three seasons at Arizona, where his 2011 offense ranked third nationally in passing offense (370.8) and 15th in total offense (465.2).

He served as offensive coordinator in 2011 and coached tight ends and H-backs. He was co-offensive coordinator in 2010 and coached running backs and tight ends in both 2009 and 2010.

Three of his Arizona players were selected in the NFL Draft: tight end Rob Gronkowski (New England - 2010 second round), quarterback Nick Foles (Philadelphia - 2012 third round) and wide receiver Juron Criner (Oakland - 2012 fifth round).

Prior to Arizona, Littrell served four years as running backs coach at Texas Tech (2005-08) under Mike Leach.  The 2008 Red Raiders rushed for 119 rushing yards per game, the highest total in the Leach era.   Running back Shannon Woods earned All-Big 12 Conference honors in 2006 after averaging 6.1 yards per carry and snagging 75 receptions, totaling a top 15 national figure of 139 all-purpose yards per game.

Littrell began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Kansas from 2002-04. The Jayhawks played in the 2003 Tangerine Bowl.

Littrell has coached in seven bowl games, played in two and was team captain on Oklahoma’s 2000 national championship team.  He was a four-year letterwinner at Oklahoma where he rushed for 231 yards and seven touchdowns in 1999 and finished his career with 11 rushing scores.

The Muskogee, Okla., native graduated from Oklahoma with a degree in communications in 2000.

Littrell and his wife, Becca, have one son, Tripp (3) and one daughter, Elle (9 months).

Personal
Birthday: July 24, 1978
Hometown: Muskogee, Okla.
Family: Wife - Becca; son - Tripp (3); daughter - Elle (9 months)
College: Oklahoma, ‘00

Coaching Experience:
Kansas
2002-04: Graduate assistant

Texas Tech
2005-08: Running Backs

Arizona
2009: Running Backs & Tight Ends
2010: Co-Offensive Coordinator/RB/TE
2011: Offensive Coordinator/TE/H-backs

Indiana
2012-13: Offensive Coordinator/TE/FB

As with the defensive coaching, Larry Fedora is naming an associate head coach over the offensive unit and also naming a coordinator. In this case he is naming Gunter Brewer and Chris Kapilovic as co-offensive coordinators.

My guess is the new titles are a way of smoothing it over with two current staff members the fact a new coach was brought in to oversee the offense instead of handing that responsibility over to one or both them. One issue this raises is who will actually be calling the plays. On the defensive that is still not known since Fedora has refused to say. Given his penchant for secrecy, I doubt he reveals who will be calling the plays on offense though it will probably be Seth Littrell.

Speaking of Littrell, this is a solid hire to replace Blake Anderson. Littrell is an experienced coach with a track record of success at two other schools. His presence at UNC also affords Fedora the opportunity to add new wrinkles to the offense after six years of Anderson running the show. UNC is well stocked with quality skills position players next season and it will be interesting to see what Littrell brings to the table in using the available weapons.