Kansas State Football: Potential head coach candidate Seth Littrell
By John McCarty
North Texas head coach Seth Littrell is mentioned early and often as a candidate to take over for Kansas State football. Who is he and does he fit what the Wildcats are looking for?
Bill Snyder is no longer the head coach in Manhattan, as he announced his retirement from Kansas State football on Sunday afternoon. With Snyder out, it’s time to look at some potential replacements, starting with Seth Littrell.
Littrell has overseen a North Texas program that, after going 1-11 in 2015, has lead the Mean Green to 23 wins including nine-win seasons in both 2017 and 2018. In his three years at the UNT program, the Littrell-lead program is readying for their third consecutive bowl game, looking to defeat Utah State in the New Mexico Bowl. However, will Littrell be on the sideline for the December 15th game?
A product and graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Littrell has had quite the coaching resumé since his taking his first job as a graduate assistant at the University of Kansas in 2002 under Mark Mangino. He has also worked at Texas Tech under Mike Leach, Arizona under Mike Stoops, Indiana under Kevin Wilson and North Carolina under Larry Fedora. At the conclusion of the 2015 season, Littrell took over at North Texas.
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How bad was North Texas when Littrell walked through the door? Well, they did lose 66-7 to Portland State, a FCS level program en route the the 1-11 season. In the 2014 and 2015 seasons, North Texas combined for five wins.
In fact, from 2008 through the 2015 season, North Texas combined to win a total of 28 games, for an average of less than four wins a season. In the 2008 home opener, the Mean Green fell to Kansas State 45-6.
Since walking through the door, North Texas has won 23 games in the three seasons under Seth Littrell’s watch and are preparing to play in their third bowl game. The program has won nine games in consecutive seasons for the first time since Hayden Frye ran the program in the late 70’s. (Bill Snyder was on the North Texas staff in 1977 and 1978 before following Frye to Iowa).
The concerns about Littrell are likely around three things. First is his lack of head coaching experience, having been in charge for now only his third season. Secondly, his programs, despite their record, has not won the conference during his tenure. Might be something, might not be anything.
Third, he has had a lot of jobs since graduating and taking his first coaching job in 2002. Will Littrell, who would have to job jump to take the Kansas State job, be looking to jump again in a few years? He has yet to stay anywhere very long.
Rumored to be the favorite at K-State, at least early in the process, Littrell has a track record of offensive production and being around winning football. The pressure will be on if he chooses to take on the Kansas State position. If he does, we should find out soon enough.